Following the successful public exhibitions earlier this year, Kingston Council’s Place Committee (14 March) will be asked to approve the next steps for the project.
The Committee is being asked for their agreement to proceed to the next design stages, which will include further community engagement, with the aim of submitting a planning application for the scheme in Autumn 2024. Approval to appoint a construction partner for the project is also being sought.
The design team, led by Alliance Leisure and award-winning architects Roberts Limbrick, will be asked to continue their ongoing work with the council to help engage with residents, community stakeholders, and potential future users over the coming months to ensure that the new design meets their needs. Should committee approval be granted to move forward, the revised designs for the building will be showcased in May 2024.
The leisure centre will deliver the range of activities that residents and stakeholders said they wanted to see, in an efficient two-storey building that will be designed to ensure the project can be delivered within an affordable budget.
Cllr Alison Holt, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development & Leisure said:
“We are committed to delivering the new leisure centre for Kingston town centre, and I’m pleased at the swift progress we’ve made to date to bring the revised scheme forward.
“One of the ways we’re doing things differently this time around is bringing our construction partner on earlier in the process, so that we can have better assurances around costs and programme as the project progresses.
“It will be great to see the new designs that the team have come up with, and important to continue to hear feedback from our communities. We have a highly experienced team in place that understands what we want to achieve against the budget we have, and the facility mix our residents have told us they would like to see.”