Sheringham's Splash centre to be demolished early
Demolition will go ahead early due to Covid-19.
Last updated 10th Feb 2021
The demolition of the old Splash Leisure Centre in Sheringham is going to happen earlier than planned due to being closed currently during lockdown.
North Norfolk District Council said it wants to take advantage of the site being closed to bring forward the completion of the new complex.
It said the uncertainty around the reopening of leisure centres in England and the inevitable timescale before they'd be back at full capacity, has meant its decided to speed up the revamp project.
Splash was originally due to be demolished after the new Sheringham Leisure Centre opens in August 2021 to ensure continuity for users.
That would have meant the car park and landscaping would not have been finished until November 2021, but by reprogramming the works it means that can be carried at the same time as work to finish off the building itself.
Everyone Active, which operates the centre on behalf of the council, says its fully behind the plan.
The company has been maintaining the operation of the swimming pool and gym facilities when they've been allowed to open since July 2020, but the council says with restrictions of social distancing, enhanced cleaning, and the interruptions by lockdowns, it's been increasingly challenging.
It added that the costs to reopen the centre after the current lockdown for such a short period are not justified, with building costs alone for four months between April and July, amounting to around £51,000.
North Norfolk District Council Cabinet member, Cllr Virginia Gay, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Wellbeing & Culture said:
“Getting the new leisure centre all completed in time for the main summer season would be a fantastic way of celebrating the hopeful return to normality after such a long period of time.”
“Maintaining the provision of swimming, sport and fitness facilities at the Splash site has been a priority for the Council since the inception of the new leisure centre.
"The new facility was designed to be built at the front of the Splash site in order to ensure there was continual access to such facilities for local people. That approach, however, did mean that the car parking provision for the new centre would be compromised for the first few months of its operation; but this was considered to be a worthy sacrifice to avoid a temporary loss of this valuable asset.
"Given that the Splash now seems unlikely to be used to any great extent during the run up to the completion of the new leisure centre, it makes perfect sense to make best use of that time to bring forward the completion date.”
Dan Hicks, Area Manager for Everyone Active added:
“The Splash Leisure centre plays an important role in the health and fitness of local residents. Our members and customers have been extremely loyal but the disruptions and intermittent closures over the past 10 months have been frustrating to them and it has been challenging for staff managing the centre.
"With uncertainty about when the centre might be able to return to full use, we are keen to use this time to bring forward the completion of the new Leisure Centre so that we can all plan with optimism for offering a-state-of-the-art swimming pool, gym and fitness suite in August.
"All in all, this is the best solution for all parties, not least the community who will now get a fantastic new facility early! We are really excited about the prospect of the whole site being completed in the summer and our dedicated team will do everything it can to help manage the transition.
"Meanwhile we continue to promote our on-line fitness package to help keep our customers active in their own homes.”
What's the new leisure centre going to be like?
The new Sheringham Leisure Centre will have a 6-lane, 25m main pool, a 13m x 8m learner pool with moveable floor, a splash pad with water play features and two community rooms for flexible use.
There will be a café area on the ground floor with spectator viewing into the pool. Upstairs there will be a fifty station health & fitness suite, a dance/ activities studio covering 200sqm, a spinning studio 96sqm all of which will enable twice as many people to participate in sport and exercise than can currently at the Splash.
The building has been designed to Sport England’s accessibility standards to ensure as many people as possible can access the wide mix of facilities.
The new leisure centre has been designed to be highly energy efficient, with state of the art windows and doors to prevent heat loss and high performance insulation for hot water pipework, as well as ‘presence/absence detection’ lights for areas with limited use.
It incorporates renewable energy systems such as solar thermal collectors for water heating and air source heat pumps.
The Splash Tropical Leisure Pool was opened on 11th May 1988 by Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales.
The commemorative plaque marking that event has been removed from the building and will be presented to Sheringham Museum.