Heather Mackinnon

Oriam, Scotland's Sports Performance Centre

What is Oriam? The concept of Oriam, Scotland's Sports Performance Centre, was developed as a result of findings reported in the McLeish report into Scottish Football. The aim of Oriam is to provide our top sportsmen and women with the facilities, access and support services pivotal for successful performance on the international stage. We are now the performance base for both the SFA and SRU, as well as the Sportscotland institute of sport, Scottish Handball and Scottish Squash & Racketball At Oriam, we also want local people to be inspired by the world-class sports facilities on their doorstep. We are determined to have a positive impact on the local community by encouraging users to improve their fitness, take part in sport or simply enjoy an active lifestyle. Our facilities include; an outdoor synthetic pitch; five outdoor natural football and two rugby pitches; twelve court sports hall; a full size indoor 3G pitch; a cafe and a fitness suite, alongside world class facilities for sports science and medicine including a hydrotherapy facility. The new facilities also complement the original sports facilities based at Heriot-Watt's campus which include eight squash courts; two exercise studios; a four court sports hall; sports performance laboratory and a 60 x 40 indoor 3G synthetic pitch. Our History: In 2012 the Scottish Government committed £25 million of funding and in December that year organisations were invited to bid to host and operate the centre. Heriot-Watt University, in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, were successful in their bid to host the new centre and have worked extensively with Sportscotland and the partner sports to develop the design to ensure the creation of a world class performance facility that provides extensive access for community too. Oriam opened it's doors for the first time in 2016 and we have continued to strive for sporting excellence ever since.