The White Water Canoe Centre in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire will host the canoe slalom events during the Olympic Games. The venue is due for completion ahead of 2012 and will deliver an early legacy of community use and training facilities for all abilities before the Games.

After the Games, the venue will be developed to become a sporting and leisure facility for canoeing and white-water rafting, as well as a major competition venue for elite events. The Centre will be owned, funded and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, who own the site which is part of the River Lee Country Park.

ODA chairman John Armitt said: "This is an important step towards delivering first-class facilities for the world’s best athletes in 2012 and leaving the lasting legacy of a major leisure attraction for many years to come. We’re on track to start construction work in the summer and the workshops now underway in local schools will help us get important safety messages out to the local community before building work begins."

The Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre will be built on what is currently the overflow car park for the Showground site of the River Lee Country Park, between Waltham Cross and Theobalds Grove stations. The construction of the venue includes:

* Canoe Course Formation – Creation of an Olympic standard 300m course, warm-up course and finish lake
* Land Formation – Placement and compaction of fill to form the course embankments and landscaped features of the venue
* Facility building and Pumping House – Construction of a new facility building, containing reception, café, changing rooms, admin offices, spectator viewing facilities, storage, and water pump/filtration plant
* Landscaping Works – Landscaping works with path and bridge networks throughout the venue to facilitate spectator viewing and access

Construction work is due to start on the Broxbourne site in June.

The construction of the White Water Canoe Centre is due to be completed for Games training and testing in 2010-11 with some public use in 2011. During the Games, temporary seating will be installed around the venue for spectators. After the Games, the spectator seating will be removed, and the venue will be developed into the Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre, creating a major leisure attraction for canoeing and white water rafting as well as a venue for future international competition.