£12 million leisure complex in Sheringham has opened
The opening of the centre was nearly delayed by lockdowns and supply chain issues
Last updated 30th Nov 2021
A new Sheringham leisure centre has opened on time, despite worries Covid and supply-chain issues would push back the completion.
'The Reef' includes a gym, fitness studio and a six-lane swimming pool and was funded by North Norfolk District Council.
They spent £11 million on the centre, alongside a £1 million grant from Sports England and the Lottery Fund.
Rob Young, their assistant director for sustainable growth at North Norfolk District Council explains how they ensured the project didn't over-run: "All in all, we are pretty much within the timeframe we expected and planned for. What we did was juggle the plan around a bit. So, rather than waiting until the end of the project before demolishing Splash, because it had essentially been closed due to Covid we used this window to do it then and that helped us catch up with other aspects".
This new venue replaces 'Splash', that had a beach-style pool and wave machine and opened in 1988.
WATCH: Our reporter went along last week for a look behind the scenes:
He also told us why change was vitally needed: "The old Splash was massively inefficient in terms of energy and water use. The Reef deals with all of this thanks to thermally heated water from solar panels and the super energy efficient measure put into it's design. Plus the way it is laid out takes advantage of the natural gains of it's location".
The council say they want to make 'The Reef' sustainable and accessible for everyone.
It's wheel-chair accessible and the water's partly heated using solar thermal energy. While Electric vehicle charging points are also available for electric cars.
Kate Rawlings is the project's manager: "The architects had a brief to make sure that the building was designed this way. As you walk around lights come on when you enter a room and turn off after you've been out of it for a while. So that helps to save energy. The solar panels primarily do the showers and then go onto the pool.
"I'm quite jealous that there's a age limit on the splash pad, I'd love to go down and give that a go. In terms of fitness and health, the ability to swim up and down the pool and do some proper fitness will be great."
The new leisure centre includes a 60-station health and fitness suite, a range of exercise machines and a dance studio.