Olympic Handball Arena, London

The Copper Box Arena in London was originally built as part of the 2012 Olympic Games, with the aim of delivering one of the most sustainable Olympic venues in history. Designed as a 7,000-capacity handball arena, the project targeted a BREEAM Excellent rating, making water conservation and energy efficiency central to its design.

Sustainability features across the venue included rainwater harvesting, low-flow water fixtures, LED lighting, and biodiversity enhancements around the site. With a high potable water demand during events and a large roof area available for rainwater collection, the arena was ideally suited for water reuse technologies to reduce reliance on mains water and lower environmental impact.

Stormsaver provided a non-pressurised rainwater harvesting system designed to achieve the high flow rates needed to serve the large leisure venue. To avoid disruption in the building during servicing and downtime, an 8,000-litre above-ground storage tank was specified instead of a below-ground option.

The system was designed to reduce mains water consumption by 40% by supplying recycled rainwater to WCs throughout the arena. With rainwater collected from the 750m² roof area, the system was designed to deliver an estimated 443,000 litres of water savings annually. Stormsaver has also continued to provide planned maintenance services, ensuring the system remains fully operational to support both community use and future generations of athletes.