England Basketball to Upgrade Offices with Move to EIS

England Basketball are relocating their offices to the English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EIS Sheffield) after agreeing a long term deal with SIV, a sporting facility charity in Sheffield.

It is the latest move under CEO Huw Morgan, who is understood to have been putting the national governing body through a major reshuffle over the past 9 months, scrapping a number of initiatives from the previous regime, losing a number of staff and bringing on new hirings.

“This is a fantastic move for England Basketball and we would like to thank SIV for their assistance throughout this process, which has been first class,” Morgan, who came on as the new CEO in November last year, said.

“EIS Sheffield is a superb facility and we are proud that our new home will be based alongside other leading and established sports governing bodies. For the last five years we have been operating out of much smaller offices in Sheffield, so we are delighted that our home base will remain in the city.

“The move will provide a fantastic, dedicated and bespoke base to deliver programmes to support the development of the game such as training and education initiatives for coaches, referees and officials and we will also look to utilise the basketball courts at EIS Sheffield to host annual events.”

SIV is part of the local charity Sheffield City Trust (SCT), which provides facilities for sport and leisure activities for the benefit of Sheffield people. As a not-for-profit organisation, all revenue generated is reinvested back into programmes and facilities in the city.

Building work has already started inside EIS Sheffield to create a large open-plan office space for England Basketball’s 20-strong team.

The contemporary headquarters, due to be completed in September, will also include a number of backboards and hoops, AV systems, and a large flexible workshop and seminar room for regular events and lectures aimed specifically at providing an improved environment for basketball officials and referee training.

England Basketball was previously based in smaller offices at EIS Sheffield for a short period in 2009. It works to encourage participation by all ages and abilities and improve the performance and quality of basketball throughout the country.

It will use the facilities at EIS Sheffield to deliver programmes and initiatives and to host annual basketball events.

EIS Sheffield is also home to GB Boxing, which is responsible for the GB Boxing men and women’s squads who won five medals at London 2012 Olympics, and Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, who trains under coach, Toni Minichiello, at the venue.

Its state-of-the-art facilities are also used by the British Table Tennis Association for the Disabled and some of the Paralympic Boccia team. It is also the Sheffield Sharks’ home venue.

Image: (L to R) – Huw Morgan, chief executive of England Basketball, Steve Brailey, chief executive of SIV and SCT, and Craig Costello, project manager for England Basketball