Major new Kent venue for competitive swimming
The £26m Dover District Leisure Centre opens its doors at 9am on Monday, 25 February marking the culmination of a three year project to bring modern and accessible leisure facilities to the Dover District. Built to BREEAM ‘Very Good’ standard by BAM Construction, and operated by Places Leisure, the centre includes the first publicly accessible 8-lane county standard short course championships swimming pool in Kent, certified by Swim England.
The 25m x 17m 8-lane swimming pool includes starting platforms, automatic timing touch pads with an electronic scoreboard, and anti-turbulence lane ropes. With spectator seating for 250 people, the centre is a major new venue for competitive swimming in the county.
The centre also features a 15m x 8.5m learner pool with a moveable floor. This allows for the depth of the pool to be adjusted to meet a variety of uses, from parent and baby swim sessions through to use as a warm-up/down facility for competitive swimming. Both pools are fully accessible and are the first in Kent to feature pool-pod platform lifts, pioneered at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Wet-side facilities also include a sauna and steam room.
Alongside swimming, the Dover District Leisure Centre features an extensive range of dry-side facilities, including:
- Four court sports hall
- Clip ‘n Climb interactive climbing arena with 16 different challenges
- 120-station gym and fitness suite
- Aerobic fitness studios (x2)
- Spin studio
- Multi-purpose studio
- Glass-backed squash courts with spectator seating (x2)
- Outdoor, floodlit five-a-side 3G pitches (x2)
- Sauna and steam room
- Café
- Free parking for 250 vehicles, including electric charging points.
Cllr Keith Morris, Leader of Dover District Council, said: “The Dover District Leisure Centre is truly fit for the 21st century and sets new standards in facilities, access, and sustainability.
“I would like to congratulate the project team who have delivered this amazing new facility. From inception to opening has taken just three years. I am particularly pleased that over 55% of the project’s order values were with Kent companies, and that the new leisure centre has created 40 new jobs in addition to the 78 who have transferred from the old leisure centre.
“Sport England has been instrumental in supporting us to deliver the Dover District Leisure Centre. Their expert guidance in the design, development and operation of the leisure centre, along with £1.5m in funding, has helped us to deliver one of the best leisure facilities in Kent.
“I also want to thank the many local people, sports teams and community clubs who have helped shaped the mix of facilities at the new leisure centre, a facility that we can all be proud of.”
John Oxley, Chief Operating Officer of Places Leisure, said: “Dover District Leisure Centre is an exemplar leisure destination as well as an inclusive community venue. As a social enterprise with a mission to create active places and healthy people we are looking forward to further developing our relationships with local clubs, partners and National Governing Bodies of Sport at Dover. We aim to complement these fantastic facilities with a diverse range of programmes, aimed at inspiring our community to become more active - now and for many years to come.”
Posted on 24 February 2019