National Hockey Stadium (Milton Keynes)

National Hockey Stadium

The Hockey Stadium
Full name	National Hockey Stadium and Conference Centre
Location	Milton Keynes
Owner	English Partnerships
Capacity	4,000 (hockey) 9,000 (football)
Field size	100 x 64 m
Construction
Built	1995
Opened	1995
Closed	2007
Demolished	2010
Tenants
England Hockey (1995–2003) Wimbledon F.C. (2003–04) Milton Keynes Dons F.C. (2004–07)

The National Hockey Stadium was a sports stadium in

in 2004.

In summer 2007, the Dons relocated to the new Stadium MK, near Bletchley, leaving the hockey stadium without a tenant. It was unused for two years and, in late 2009, demolition began in preparation for the redevelopment of the site into the new Network Rail headquarters which became operational in July 2012.

Hockey

The stadium was built in 1995 as a new national

. The ground was used for national and international (field) hockey until 2003. It had a covered main stand running the full length of one side of the pitch, opposite which was an unroofed stand running about one third of the length of the pitch, straddling the halfway line.

In 1997, the stadium was used as the venue for the sixth edition of the

.

In 2003, after the ground was leased to

, a grass pitch was laid, meaning that the stadium was out of commission for hockey. Temporary stands were added at either end of the pitch. Hockey internationals and playoff matches were reallocated to various leading club grounds around the country. In May 2007, at the end of the lease, the temporary stands were removed.

On 2 April 2007, the trustees of the National Hockey Foundation, which owned the lease of the stadium, announced that they had arranged to hand the lease back to

facilities.

Football

The stadium was the home of Wimbledon FC (renamed

season.

Record attendance at the National Hockey Stadium:

• 8,306 v
  Tottenham Hotspur
  , League Cup 3rd Round, 25 October 2006

Average attendances at the National Hockey Stadium:

• 2004–2005: 4,896 (League One)
• 2005–2006: 5,776 (League One)
• 2006–2007: 6,034 (League Two)

Demolition

After the Dons left for Denbigh, the supplementary seating was removed, returning the capacity to 4,000. However, the venue was not used notably thereafter. At end of October 2008, English Partnerships (owners of the site) announced agreement with Network Rail to make the site available for a new headquarters building, which meant that the stadium would be demolished.^[1]

On 17 December 2009, demolition of the stadium began and the site was cleared by March 2010.^[2] Quadrant:MK opened in June 2012.^[3][4]

Location

• The stadium was just beside Milton Keynes Central railway station, near the A509 exit from the A5.
• Coordinates: 52°02′16″N 0°46′30″W / 52.037739°N 0.775014°W / 52.037739; -0.775014 / SP 841,384

References