The NIA

The National Indoor Arena, in the centre of Birmingham, is the home of British indoor sport. It is designed to accommodate more than 30 different types of sport from athletics to boxing, badminton to judo and has already hosted five World and three European Championships. The 13,000-arena has the country's only six-lane 200-metre athletics track, which is dismantled and stored away when not in use. Seven world records have been set on the track and the venue will stage the 2003 World Indoor Athletics Championships.<p>Concerts, entertainment and business conferences and exhibitions are also staged at The NIA, including television's Gladiators, which was filmed there every year since 1992, and attracted audiences up to 13 million for each televised show. The Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 attracted a worldwide television audience of 100 million.<p>The Academy makes use of The NIA's built-in flexibility, creating a more intimate theatre-style auditorium for up to 4,000. It was the setting for the world premiere of Sir Cliff Richard's production of Heathcliff and has also staged numerous concerts and shows. The total flexible format of The Academy means that the audience seating area can be adapted to accommodate anything from a few hundred to four thousand or more.