Lancaster University

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Opening of £20m Sports Centre

06/14/2011 00:00:00


The new £20m Sports Centre is to open its doors on 1 August.  The state-of-the-art centre will be open to staff, students, schools and the local community.

Kim Montgomery, Head of Sport, said: “The completion of this building marks a new dawn for sport at Lancaster. Our elite performers will have state-of-the-art facilities to train and develop whilst recreational users, both from the University and the local community, will have increased opportunity and choice in order to support the wellbeing of all and to promote sports development.”

The 25 metre eight lane pool is a third larger than the University’s existing pool.

Kim Montgomery said: “It will enable us to have competitions with computerised touch pad timing and the floating floor means we can vary the depth. The pool can be really shallow for children and also for school swimming lessons but full to maximum depth for water polo competitions. We can also have full galas and more activities like aqua aerobics.”

Other features of the new sports centre include

• Eight court sports hall - equipped for all indoor sports activities with electronic scoring displays.
• 10m high climbing wall showcased in the entrance foyer
• 100 station gym on two levels
• four glass backed squash courts
• A mirrored studio for dance, martial arts and fencing

The centre will also offer a health & fitness suite incorporating a sauna & steam room.

It will continue to operate a varied programme of activities currently offered by the existing Centre for Sport and Recreation. These include casual hire of facilities (badminton, netball, five-a-side etc), instructed classes (aerobics, other fitness classes), fitness training and junior activities (sports coaching, holiday schemes). 

The Sports Centre forms part of the University’s ongoing £350m investment programme in residential, academic and social facilities.

The building has achieved the BREEAM 'Excellent' rating, which sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design.

The new sports centre project has meant a simplified pricing structure for annual membership following consultation with LUSU, the Sports Association and other user groups. There are four levels of membership, ranging from Bronze to Platinum which is full use of all facilities inclusive of prebooked classes. Tours of the new building will be available from 9-4pm on July 3rd , 8th, 15th and Mon – Fri 9am – 4pm during graduation week; contact sportenquiries@lancaster.ac.uk