Trust Thamesmead has announced that a new community multi-sports hub will be built in the area, thanks to a £1.6m award from the Football Foundation (FF) and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Sporting Club Thamesmead will be located on the site of the former Thamesmead Town Football Club.

The new facility will provide a full-size, floodlit, synthetic turf pitch for year-round community football and a floodlit Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), as well as a full-size senior grass football pitch and ancillary grass pitches in the adjacent Crossways Park.

A community sports pavilion with changing facilities and indoor activity rooms will also accommodate social facilities for local residents.

Vic Grimes, chair of the trust, said: "I'm very pleased that work is to start on a project which will provide a step change in sports provision in Thamesmead.

"None of this would've been possible without the solid support we have received from Bexley Council during the past four years."

Paul Thorogood, CEO of FF, added: "We warmly congratulate Trust Thamesmead and the London FA for their hard work and dedication in securing the maximum award possible of £1m.

"Sport is playing a central role in helping people to stay fit, strengthen communities and promote responsibility amongst young people."

In addition to the trust's personal allocation of £2.36m towards the scheme, the London Marathon Trust has provided £150,000, FIFA £55,000, UEFA £74,000 and Rank £5,000.

Sporting Club Thamesmead is scheduled to open in July 2010.

Elsewhere in Thamesmead, a Youth Leisure Zone is under development with a £5.5m grant from the government's myplace project.