charged with leading the development of a national sports centre.

The old Technical Institute and Sixth Form College were razed earlier this month -- just few weeks after National Sports Centre Trustees said they wanted to keep part of the Institute.

It prompted outrage from MP Nelson Bascome who claimed Bermudians had been kept in the dark about the decision.

But last night Donald Lines, chairman of the Trustees, defended the decision saying: "I do not like making U-turns, but there is a bigger game here that is more important.'' Originally the Trustees wanted to demolish the Sixth Form Centre but keep part of the Institute for community use.

Mr. Lines said there were four reasons for razing both buildings: After investigating renovation of part of the Institute, the cost climbed and would have been in the region of $1.5 million.

Nearby Devon Lane School will soon be made redundant by Government and become available, making refurbishment even more unrealistic.

Contractors levelling fields to the north of the stadium were used to demolish the buildings -- at a fraction of the cost of delaying a decision.

The site will be used for a leisure pool.

Mr. Lines added: "I am loathe to destroy buildings that might be of economic value, but keeping them would have had no economic value.''