Lancaster University Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark E. Smith has officially opened new sports facilities as part of a 400 square metre extension to the Sports Centre on campus.

The new enhanced facilities include a Strength & Conditioning Room and Human Performance Laboratory which together create space for high-performance training as well as a facility to serve the University’s first academic sports course launched this year.

The Vice-Chancellor said: “I am very pleased to be opening this project which sends out a very clear message about our commitment to sport. Not only does it service the first academic sports course here at Lancaster but it is also a valuable training facility that will serve the local community and also enhance the performances of our competitive teams.”

At the opening, players from Morecambe Football Club underwent fitness assessments in the Human Performance Laboratory, which contains technology used by elite athletes and now available for the public.

Human Performance is a core topic of the University’s new Sports and Exercise Science degree and the new laboratory provides an opportunity for students on the programme to develop the necessary practical skills.

Dr Bob Lauder, Director of Sports Science in the Faculty of Health and Medicine, said: “We are delighted with this amazing space, which rightly places Lancaster University as a top institution for teaching and research in sports and exercise science.

“These new facilities ensure we have got the balance right – providing an outstanding space for high-quality research around health and elite sports performance while also offering sport and exercise science support to both elite and recreational athletes across the region.”

The extension features equipment including:

· GHD bench

· Ski ergs

· Watt bikes

· Assault bikes

· Technogym skillmills, skillruns, skillbikes and skillrows

Kim Montgomery, Head of Sport at Lancaster University, said: “We are always looking to improve our teams standing in BUCS (British University and College Sport) but previously have not really had the resource to support an improvement in strength and conditioning. Now we very much have a facility of regional significance.”