Work on £7.1m Wednesbury leisure centre and swimming pool set to begin

Interserve will work with the council and Sandwell Leisure Trust on the complex which is due to open in summer 2015.

The complex will have a 25-metre pool, a learner pool, two dance studios and a 100-station fitness suite. The existing sports hall will be retained.

Council bosses said today the site was now being prepared for building work to start.

Councillor Steve Eling, the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for strategic resources, said: "Our decision to award the contract to Interserve follows strong competition from several companies and is a key milestone in moving ahead with the new leisure centre in Wednesbury.

"We look forward to working with Interserve, which is a local company, on the project.

"One of our top priorities is helping more people be active, fit and well by providing high quality leisure facilities."

Paul Slater, chief executive of Sandwell Leisure Trust said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with Sandwell Council and Interserve on this new leisure centre for Sandwell.

"We look forward to managing this exciting new facility in Wednesbury that will provide a quality range of swimming, sport and fitness facilities to support the local community it will serve."

Simon Butler, regional director of Interserve Construction said: "We are delighted to have secured another project with Sandwell Council and to further our already excellent relationship with the authority where we are currently engaged on a number of school projects.

"We look forward to working with the council in providing these high quality leisure facilities for the benefit of the community."

The new complex will be built on the site of the old Wednesbury Leisure Centre.

The council's in-house architectural team designed the pool. They also designed Tipton Leisure Centre,which opened last year.

More than 230,000 visitors have been through its doors in the first year.

The centre in Alexandra Road now has more than 7,500 members using the pools, gym and fitness classes which are held there.

And it has proved so popular with visitors, staff have introduced additional public swimming times in its 25-metre, six-lane pool, extra swimming lessons and extra fitness classes to meet with demand.

The £8million centre, which opened in April last year, was the first to be built in Sandwell since the 1970s. It replaced the ageing Tipton Swimming Centre, which was opened way back in 1933.