Major demolition work to make way for a new state-of-the-art leisure centre in Newcastle should start soon.
It is hoped that a new complex in West Denton will be completed by the end of next year, boasting a new swimming pool, sports hall and library. The facility, mostly funded by a successful bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF), will restore swimming provision to a part of the city that has been without it since the existing Outer West Pool was shut at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
There have been concerns about the deliverability of the project, given that its expected costs have already spiralled from an original £22.3m to £26m and its opening date pushed back, though Newcastle City Council chiefs have insisted that it will be built. Civic centre bosses have now confirmed a timescale for the big changes that people in West Denton can expect to see over the next few months.
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The new leisure centre will be built where the existing pool, library and customer service centre stands in West Denton Way – meaning that entire building will have to be demolished. That work is now due to start this month, while a temporary library building that locals can use during the construction is expected to be installed in the centre’s rear car park by the end of February.
New electric vehicle charging points will also be installed in that car park by the end of March, with the demolition of the current facilities scheduled to be finished by this May. However, the separate sports hall, gym and outdoor pitches behind the pool and library building are to remain open throughout the building works.
The existing gym building will then be repurposed once the new leisure centre is open and houses all of the site’s sports facilities under one roof. The target date for the completion of the new centre is now December 2024, having been pushed back from the summer of next year.
It will feature a 25m swimming pool with eight lanes, a 17m training pool, an aqua play pool, a sports hall, a fitness studio and gym, a library, community spaces, a soft play area and a café.
The council has warned of “incredibly challenging” pressures surrounding the building of the centre, with the Government having stipulated that the £19.8m grant awarded for the project must be spent by March 2024, but have insisted that the new centre would not be derailed. There have been concerns about the future of LUF-backed schemes around the country being rendered unviable because of escalating building costs as a result of huge inflation levels.
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