Published at 07:28, Friday, 09 October 2009

Carlisle's Sands Centre is set for a £14 million revamp.

• Video: 3D animation of new-look Sands Centre

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There are plans for a 25m swimming pool to replace the main pool at The Pools in James Street, while a new sports hall will free up the existing hall as a venue for shows and conferences.

The gym will be enlarged and a “school of sport” provided for the University of Cumbria.

The first phase – the sports hall and new entrance – should be ready early in 2011. The whole scheme is due for completion by autumn 2012.

The proposals were unveiled this week by Carlisle City Council and the university.

Council leader Mike Mitchelson said: “We feel this is a major project for Carlisle. It will provide an iconic building and, more importantly, improved facilities.

“It will help to develop Carlisle as a regional capital.”

The eight-lane swimming pool will be built to competition standard although, at 25m, it is 8m shorter than the James Street pool. There will be seating for 150 spectators, changing rooms and a separate teaching pool.

Once it is open, the James Street baths will be demolished and made into a car park. However, the health suite, 20m pool and Turkish baths there will remain.

The new sports hall at the Sands will be big enough for four badminton courts and the gym will be 40 per cent larger than it is now, split over two floors.

The existing main hall – no longer needed for sports – will benefit from improved ventilation and acoustics, a larger standing capacity and improved dressing rooms.

There will be a new bar and a mezzanine floor built above the smaller sports hall for conferences and exercise classes.

Eric Thomson, chairman of Carlisle Leisure, the not-for-profit company that manages the Sands Centre, is excited by the potential to attract big-name acts to Carlisle.
He said: “One of the main benefits is having a bespoke main-events hall with separate sports facilities.

“This will allow us to market the Sands and bring major productions, which we are not able to do with a dual-use hall.”

The University of Cumbria’s school of sport will have teaching space, sports-performance labs, a conditioning room and sports injury and rehab clinic. These will be in addition to the existing sports hall and gym at Fusehill Street.

There are also plans for the university to provide teaching space and fitness and conditioning rooms at the Sheepmount Athletics Stadium.

University vice-chancellor Peter McCaffery said: “We think it is a fantastic development. The facilities will attract more learners to Carlisle and help the city’s regeneration.”

The university will contribute £4.8m of the total £14m cost of the Sands revamp. The city council plans to pay its share by selling off “surplus assets” including land at Morton earmarked for housing and a supermarket.

It may also apply for government grants and take advantage of low interest rates to borrow money.

Proposals for the Sands have been discussed for several years, but the idea moved on apace when the city council’s executive ordered a feasibility study in February.

Architects Plus of Carlisle have drawn up the plans, which involve building on the car park in front of the gym and Sands’ main entrance.

eventy parking spaces will be lost but officials believe the car park can still cope.

The council argues too that replacing the main pool in James Street is cost-effective.

It urgently needs £1.5m spending on it and the running costs for the new pool will be lower. The council says that, even with the new pool at the Sands, there is scope for another swimming pool to serve the south of the city at Harraby or Morton.

The Sands scheme goes before the council’s executive next Friday.

Councillors will then be asked for £150,000 in November to fund a planning application. They should give the go-ahead in April 2010.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk