Beard Construction chosen to lead Marlborough Leisure Centre renovations with work getting underway soon
Refurbishment at Marlborough Leisure Centre will commence later this month with Beard Construction chosen to deliver the project.
Wiltshire Council confirmed the improvements to the fitness and wet change facilities earlier this year as part of the ongoing £10 million investment in its leisure facilities.
Beard Construction, is a multi-award-winning construction company which designs, builds, restores and refurbishes buildings in Southern England, and are currently leading on the Trowbridge Town Hall refurbishments.
The work being undertaken at Marlborough Leisure Centre includes:
- improvements and an extension to the fitness suite, including new equipment and improved ventilation and air conditioning to create a spacious, modern environment
- the creation of a dedicated consultation room
- refurbishment and extension of the wet changing facilities, including new fixtures and fittings, family changing cubicles and group changing
- the installation of a Changing Places facility.
Beard will be on site from the end of October setting up their compound, which will require the removal of a number of car park spaces at the centre to accommodate. It is expected that work inside the centre will begin in early November.
A temporary closure of both the swimming pool and gym will be required in early November to facilitate the installation of the temporary changing units on poolside, and the creation of a temporary gym in the small hall. We anticipate that this will be a short closure of a couple of days for each facility area and will provide details on these dates once known. Once complete, the swimming pool and temporary gym will be open for the duration of the project.
The centre will remain open during these temporary facility closures, but use of our local leisure centres at The Vale Campus in Pewsey and Devizes Leisure Centre, or other centres are available for customers and members to use if they wish.
More specific information and timescales for the works will be shared in due course.
Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: I'm delighted that we have Beard Construction on board for the exciting improvements taking place at Marlborough Leisure Centre, and we can't wait for the project to get underway later this month.
With our customers at other leisure sites already seeing the results of our investment, we look forward to those in Marlborough seeing a more accessible, fit-for-purpose and modern facility. Extending the wet changing rooms and installing a Changing Places will also ensure more of the community can make use of the centre and its services.
Whilst these works may cause some initial disruption to users, and we will share more details on these as soon as we are able to, we hope that the end result will be a much nicer environment for our members and visitors.
As previously confirmed, in order for the improvements to be made, and to ensure the centre is used by as much of the community as possible, the squash facilities and health suite will be permanently removed from the centre. The soft play sessions (which previously took place in a squash court and were permanently available) will change to programmed sessions featuring new soft play equipment.
Alternative squash facilities in the town are available at Marlborough College and people can contact them on jhb@marlboroughcollege.org for more information. There are also nearby council-run squash facilities at Pewsey that people are welcome to use.
For regular updates on the works taking place at Marlborough Leisure Centre, people can visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure/marlborough-improvements