Balfour Beatty has been awarded the £18.5 million Elephant & Castle leisure centre scheme for Southwark Council.
The Elephant and Castle Leisure Centre project will provide a brand new modern leisure facility on the site of the existing facility in the heart of South London’s Elephant and Castle district.
Designed in collaboration with Southwark Council the new three storey facility will include a 25m community swimming pool, a separate 12m learner pool incorporating a moveable floor and sauna and steam room facilities.
A new four-court sports hall will also be provided together with a 140 station gym, two studios, spinning room and wet and dry changing facilities.
The main build includes a steel frame, concrete cores and basement. Externally the cladding will comprise of a lightweight metal brass standing seam system and natural timber.
The new centre will also provide a crèche, café and associated office space necessary to manage the centre.
Sustainability has been a key element with the building designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating along with the inclusion of a combined heat and boiler plant, photovoltaic panels and grey water recycling system.
The Elephant and Castle development is a continuation of the partnership between Southwark Council and its Local Education Partnership, 4:Futures which comprised of Southwark Council, Balfour Beatty and Amber Structures and was formed to deliver the Southwark Schools for the Future programme.
The Southwark Schools for the Future programme set out that the successful bidder for the schools would support the transformation of other community schemes within the borough.
Councillor Fiona Colley, Cabinet member for Regeneration, said: "The brand new leisure centre at Elephant and Castle is one of the highlights of the regeneration in the area, offering residents high quality sports and exercise facilities. I am looking forward to seeing work start on this exciting development."
Works commenced on site late April with completion programmed for December 2014.