Over the last three months, Kingston has been working at pace to undertake a thorough review of the new leisure and community centre in Kingston, including the facilities that will be available.
The complex will deliver the range of activities that residents and stakeholders said they wanted to see, and is further supported by a recent review of indoor sports needs across the borough. A more efficient two-storey building will be designed to ensure that the project can be delivered within an affordable budget.
The outline plans for the new centre include an 8 lane swimming pool and a teaching pool with spectator seating, as well as a four court sports hall, studio spaces, gym, squash courts, and a cafe. Reflecting a new business model it also includes features such as a wellbeing suite and spa facility alongside a larger soft play area than in the previous project. The plans will were presented at the council’s Place Committee on 20 June.
Sustainability, inclusion and disabled-friendly access to the leisure facility remain at the heart of the plans, together with improving spaces around the site, providing a whole range of leisure, community and cultural opportunities for everyone to enjoy.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Andreas Kirsch, said:
“We are fully committed to providing a new leisure centre with swimming facilities for the borough on this site. We have made progress as quickly as possible to bring forward revised plans, whilst ensuring robust processes are in place for delivery.
We have a clear route for procuring the services we need to design and build the new centre within an affordable budget. This means that we will deliver the facilities that meet the needs of residents and that they told us they wanted most. To do this we reconsidered some of the facilities in the centre, reviewed the overall design and structure, and looked at the business model. This enables us to include additional benefits, such as a new wellbeing suite and spa and a larger soft play area, while retaining our focus on inclusion, disabled-friendly access and sustainability.
We know that the leisure centre is crucially important for people and communities across Kingston and for the wider culture and heritage-led regeneration of the town centre. The plans now in place will enable us to do this in a responsible and timely way.”
The council aims to share the revised building design for views in 2024 and begin building work in 2025.
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