Design firm selected for £11m West Bromwich pool

Award-winning design company DC Leisure has been chosen to build and run West Bromwich's new £11 million swimming pool.

Sandwell Council chose the company to design, build, run and maintain the town centre complex, due to open in summer 2014.

It has been given "preferred bidder status" – which means it will be awarded the contract subject to signing final legal and financial agreements.

The decision was approved by the council's cabinet at its meeting yesterday.

Sandwell Council's deputy leader and cabinet member for strategic resources Councillor Steve Eling said: "DC Leisure is a major player in the leisure industry with all the skills, knowledge and expertise to give Sandwell a state of the art pool complex.I look forward to working with them over the coming years."

Over the past six years DC Leisure has built 11 leisure facilities worth £110m across the country.

It currently manages more than 100 leisure facilities on behalf of local councils.

DC Leisure spokesman Peter Kirkham added: "DC Leisure are looking forward to working in partnership with Sandwell Council to deliver an exciting and excellent new leisure centre in West Bromwich."

The planned site for the leisure complex is on the corner of Moor Street and Barton Street.

It will have a 25 metre pool with a learner pool, a sauna and steam room, a four-court sports hall, a 100-station fitness suite, two dance studios, activity rooms, an indoor children's adventure play centre and a cafe.

A planning application for the scheme will be submitted later this year, with building work starting early next year.

The council is also building a new £8 million leisure centre in Tipton.

Contractor Willmott Dixon is building the new development at the junction of Alexandra Road and Thursfield Road. The centre will include a 25-metre six-lane main swimming pool, learner pool, gym, changing facilities, dance studio and community space, as well as a landscaped urban piazza. It is scheduled to open in 2013 and will replace the Tipton Swimming Centre in Queens Road.

A £15m site is also being proposed at the heart of Smethwick, bringing the town's four existing centres under one roof and modernising facilities.

Meanwhile, Wednesbury Leisure Centre will also be rebuilt to replace the current ageing centre and will be built on the same site.

The move follows the closure for the last six months of Wednesbury Leisure Centre's two pools for maintenance work.