TODAY the new £113million Emirates Arena in Glasgow's East End threw open its doors to the public for the first time.

Over the weekend thousands of people are expected to visit the dramatic new building across from Celtic Park, which will be one of the main venues for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

It will offer superb facilities for elite athletes but will also be used on a daily basis by local people.

Cyclists will be able to train in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome while the arena complex offers a gym, dance studio, sports halls, outdoor floodlit five-a-side pitches and an indoor sports park.

Glasgow City Council, which owns the new sports complex, was determined local people should benefit from the massive construction project.

For one of the 550 builders involved in the project, it would be a decision which would change his life. Joiner Kevin Lee served his apprenticeship with the council's construction body City Building before going on to join the Parachute Regiment.

After nine years in the elite unit an injury forced him to quit and he contacted Help for Heroes on his return to Glasgow. He was put in touch with his former employer and for the past few months has been working in the velodrome.

Kevin said: "When I came back I was worried it was going to be very difficult to get a job in Civvy Street.

"The help I got from Help for Heroes, and City Building giving me another chance, has changed my life. To get the chance to work on the velodrome was unbelievable. I was proud to see it finished and to be able to say: 'I did that.'"

Daljit Gill, who also worked on the velodrome as a joiner, was one of the first apprentices to be recruited through the council's Commonwealth Apprenticeship scheme. He said: "My apprenticeship has been brilliant and I am still working with City Building fitting kitchens in houses throughout the city."

Glasgow has been determined the Commonwealth Games will bring a long term legacy for people across the city.

And new figures show there has been a massive uptake in sport since the city won the right to stage the event.

In the year to March, there were almost six million attendances at sport and leisure facilities across the city with Scotstoun sports campus recording one million attendances.

The number of young people joining sports clubs has soared, as has the number of volunteers working in junior clubs.

In the year to March, 2000 young people took part in a city wide swimming competition, and children and the elderly took advantage of 270,000 free swims.

Almost 20,200 companies have registered for a scheme which will allow them to bid for Commonwealth Games work. At the end of August this year, 30% of all Commonwealth Games related contracts – worth a massive £182m – had been awarded to Glasgow-based firms.

More than 2000 job placements have been secured for school leavers and hundreds of jobs have been taken up by the long-term unemployed.

In the next few years, a range of major events will be held in the city providing a £53m boost to the city's economy.

Council leader Gordon Matheson said: "The extension of existing facilities and new purpose-built venues have allowed Glasgow a wider scope in which to actively target and bid for large scale events.

"The Games are providing momentum for people to become more active, take up new jobs and training and help keep business moving through tough economic times.

"We are also seeing a legacy of greater ambition and confidence, as our city's reputation continues to grow and flourish, and as we bid to host the Youth Olympics in 2018 as part of the journey.

"Glasgow's legacy from our Games must endure. The progress we make must be built upon."

vivienne.nicoll@ eveningtimes.co.uk