It has undercover seating for 2,000 spectators, but that is only the beginning of what the new Grandstand at the National Sports Centre will offer when it is completed.

On schedule for its December 30 completion date, the new stand will offer residents the best seating for sports fans anywhere on the Island and will bring the stadium up to international standards.

The multi-million dollar facility features a timing booth for track and field events, a three-section press box for local and international media, two concession stands, changing rooms, bathrooms...even an elevator!

“We had to make use of every inch of space,” said John White, public relations officer for the Board of Trustees during a tour of the near completed facility earlier this week.

Bermudians are used to attending sporting events locally and not being required to purchase tickets in advance or for pre-assigned seats.

But the new stand has numbered seats and seats will have to be purchased in advance, in much the same way as international events overseas.

Certainly the stand is something that Bermudians will be proud of, though the entire sports complex is still far from completion, with work still ongoing on both the northern field - which hosted its first event last month when the World Rugby Classic was staged there - and the southern field which is the site of the old National Stadium.

“We only want to do this once and make it right,” said Mr. White of the entire project which has met with delays and change of plans over the years.

“Our mandate was to build something that Bermuda can be proud of, that would last us the next 200 years. I remember talking about this thing for about 20 years.”

Actually the idea of a major sporting facility came even before that when a committee, which included the late Randy Benjamin a founding member and former president of the Bermuda Track and Field Association, suggested Bermuda needed a sports facility of international standard.

The year was 1972 and track and field was thriving at that time but Mr. Benjamin died in January, 1998 without seeing the sports complex completed.

Work progressed slowly in turning the stadium into a top international facility.

The old stadium had a pavilion on the northern end, where the centre concourse will eventually be built, and there was a bank on the eastern end of the field. The old pavilion was demolThe old pavilion was demolished in 1985 and only now is it being adequately replaced as the stadium has, for years, lacked adequate facilities.

“They had a master plan and rushed ahead and built the stadium and then it died,” Mr. White said of the initial work on the new facility.

“When they came to use we said we didn't want to put this whole master plan together, get halfway there and then die. This is why it has been so long. We said ‘let's create a master plan first and do it by phases and we need that commitment'. So far we've had the commitment of Government to do it.”

The original plan for the new facility did not include a grandstand, something which only came to the fore when the Government changed in 1998. Under new sports minister Dennis Lister the request was made to change the phasing of the project and include a grandstand on the western end of the field.

Canadian firm Canon Johnston Sports Architecture are in charge of the project as construction managers while Peter Headecker is site superintendent.

The grandstand project was launched with a ground-breaking ceremony was held on August 25, 2000 with a completion date of December 30, 2001 and it is on schedule.

Plans are now underway for an opening ceremony next month to mark the completion of the multi-million dollar grandstand, a huge structure which is visible from surrounding areas.