As part of Valencia's year as European Capital of Sport, the decision was taken to hold a conference focusing on sports facilities, for the first time ever. This meeting will be held from Thursday 31st March to Saturday 2nd April and will look at major architecture projects in the sports world and what impact these sports facilities have on their cities. The conference will take place at La Petxina Sports and Arts Complex in Valencia and their purpose is to spark off debate about the link between the design, the building and the management of a major sports facility.

The speakers at the conference are all internationally renowned professionals in the field of sports facilities. They include the keynote speaker Alistair Lencner, an engineer at Foster and Partners and Mamoru Kawaguchi, a prestigious Japanese engineer and inventor of the "Pantadome" system that has been applied in the most important sports structures, such as the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Another of the speakers is Gonzalo Vicente-Almazán from Alicante, who refurbished and redeveloped the Naves de Cross factory to turn it into a public sports complex, the future Juan Antonio Samaranch sports centre in Valencia. Another guest speaker is Tom Jones, who designed Arsenal's stadium in London. Andrew Comer, a renowned civil engineer known for creating facilities that are environmentally sustainable, has also confirmed his attendance and will speak on his current projects for the London Olympics.

In parallel to the Conference, there will be an exhibition of models. These prototypes are linked to the speakers' projects and will be used to support their presentations. However, some freely presented models will also be selected for exhibition. Any delegates who are interested will also have the opportunity to take a guided tour of Valencia's sports facilities.