sport Graham nets Kirkcaldy contract


Graham Construction has secured a £15.3m contract to build a new sports and leisure complex in Kirkcaldy, which will open in summer 2013. Fife Council and Fife Sports


and Leisure Trust are leading the scheme, which will see a new building offer a 25m, six-lane pool with spectator seating for 90 people. A training pool with move-


able floor; accessible wetside changing areas; a health suite with a sauna and steamroom; and a 60-station fitness suite will be among the facilities. Elsewhere, a purpose-built aerobics studio; a


Construction work is expected to start on-site this month (November) Alice Soper, chair of Fife Council’s Kirkcaldy


four-court sports hall; a children’s play centre; and a meeting room will also be included. The project forms part of a wider £55m


investment in new leisure facilities across the region and it is expected that the Kirkcaldy venue will attract 200,000 visits each year.


Area Committee, said: “Kirkcaldy’s new sports and leisure centre will provide more than just a pool for town. Tere will be a wealth of dry side facilities for the first time ever and it will be an iconic building with unrivalled views of the waterfront.”


A new-build element formed part of the scheme New-look venue opens at Aston University


Doug Ellis, former chair of Aston Villa Football Club, has helped mark the unveiling of Aston University’s new-look Woodcock Sports Centre, fol- lowing a £5m revamp. The centre has been


renamed the Doug Ellis Woodcock Sports Centre in honour of Ellis, an honorary graduate of the institution and who made the lead giſt towards the scheme. Facilities at the new-look


venue include a new 120-sta- tion gym with Life Fitness cardiovascular machines and free weights; a refurbished sports hall; and an upgraded swimming pool area. A two-storey facility with martial arts,


Woodcock Sports Centre now comprises a 120-station Life Fitness gym


badminton, basketball and netball provision are also included at the new-look venue. Aston University acquired the sports cen-


fitness and dance studios; a new sauna, steam- room and changing rooms; and improved


tre building from Birmingham City Council in 1980, which includes the Grade II-listed pool – the city’s oldest working swimming facility.


London mayor boost for wheelchair basketball


London mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to more than quadruple the number of wheelchair basketball clubs across the capital and increase participation by 7,000 people. Less than 10 per cent of disabled Londoners are believed to participate in sport on a regular


© CYBERTREK 2011


basis, with the capital having one of the lowest participation rates for wheelchair basketball. Te mayor has now contributed £95,000


from the Sports Legacy Fund to the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association’s programme to create seven clubs in London.


Twitter: @leisureopps


Cardiff leisure centre plans to be reviewed


Plans to revamp a Cardiff leisure centre will be reviewed aſter Cardiff Council confirmed it was seeking an “alternative option” for its schools reorganisation programme. Cardiff Council had proposed the


Eastern Leisure Centre refurbishment as part of plans to develop a new secondary school on the centre’s site in Llanrumney. However, the council said that a reduc-


tion in funding from the Welsh Assembly Government has forced the rethink, with revised proposals for the leisure centre revamp now to be drawn up.


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital 3


£8.25m university facility to launch in Twickenham


Sebastian Coe and double Olympic medal- list Rebecca Romero have helped open an £8.25m sports centre at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham, London. Former 10,000m world record holder


Dave Bedford and representatives from Sport England will also attend the unveil- ing of the facility, along with Olympians including Tim Brabants. Work has included a new sports hall;


a strength and conditioning suite; and changing spaces, with a new-build ele- ment created as an extension to the existing games hall and sports block.


£10m Iconic Facilities funding made available


Sport England has announced that £10m worth of National Lottery funding has been made available in the latest round of the Iconic Facilities programme. The initiative is designed to provide


investment in “large scale, state-of-the-art” venues capable of catering for a number of sports and help increase participation. Iconic Facilities is one of three strands to


run under the ‘Places’ element of the wider Places People Play programme, Applicants can bid for grants of between £250,000 and £3m in the second of three rounds.


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