GALLERY: £17.5m Sedbergh Leisure Centre almost ready to open its doors to the public

The centre, which will replace the soon to be demolished Richard Dunn Centre, has been under construction since Spring 2018, and this week Bradford Council has been putting the finishing touches on the facility and showing staff around the building.

The Telegraph & Argus were also given a tour around the state of the art leisure centre, which will have a 'soft launch' next month.

Highlights of the new facility are wheelchair access swimming pools, a state of the art gym and fitness area and a cavernous sports hall.

The new facility will also be able to offer classes and services that the district’s older gyms could never provide, including aqua spinning.

Richard Dunn centre to shut this Autumn once new leisure centre opens

The centre was first announced as part of a major shake up of Bradford’s leisure services, with Sedbergh, built on the Sedbergh Playing Fields off Cleckheaton Road, replacing the Richard Dunn Centre.

That leisure facility, a short distance from Sedbergh, will be demolished once Sedbergh is fully operational, and Bradford Council is in the process of marketing the site.

However, there has been a slight delay to the site opening. Originally the opening date was due to be September.

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A report going to Bradford Council’s Executive next Tuesday reveals that this delay in opening has led to a £100,000 overspend in the Council’s Sports Facilities Budget.

The Council hopes the new facilities attract more gym subscriptions, and that the more traditional swimming pool leads to more swimming clubs and groups using the facilities, and attract swimmers who may have been put off by Richard Dunn’s more fun-focused pool.

Although it lacks Richard Dunn’s much loved water slides, the pools area at Sedbergh does include some impressive features.

Next to the steps into the main pool is a rising platform that allows wheelchair users to be lowered into the pool.

And the pool also has a high tech piece of kit that people can roll their wheelchair into and then lower themselves into deeper parts of the pool.

A smaller pool space has a retractable floor that can go from being level with the poolside to depths of 1.8 metres.

This space can be used for toddler play, children’s swimming sessions and plans are even in place to run aqua spin classes - where exercise bikes are lowered into the pool.

John Coulton, Sports Facilities Manager, said: “It is an extremely flexible space.”

There are also top of the line disabled toilets, with adjustable height sinks, and changing facilities. Mr Coulton added: “There are great facilities for people with disabilities, they really are an exemplar standard.”

The large sports hall - which will also be used as a counting floor for local elections, has markings for numerous sports, including badminton, basketball, handball, hockey, 5 a side and volley ball.

New, more level sports fields are being provided on the site, and the centre has built in changing facilities for sports clubs.

The upper floor facilities include studios that can be used for dance, boot camp style classes and spinning, and have a view of the swimming pools below.

The main gym area features top of the line equipment, from Jacobs Ladders to circuit training facilities.

It pas part of the Council’s push to compete with private gyms, and encourage more people to register with facilities that bring in extra finances to the Council.

There are currently 800 registered users of the Richard Dunn gym facilities, and it will be these who will be Sedbergh’s first customers - given inductions before the rest of the facilities are opened.

The outdoor pitches have been laid out, although it may take up to a year for them to settle to the level where they are suitable to be played on.

Mr Coulton said the development has seen “five poor quality” pitches replaced with three good quality pitches and a training pitch.

There are “changing villages” on the ground floor, changing facilities for gym users on the first floor and changing facilities for teams using the outdoor pitches, which Mr Coulton describes as being of a similar quality to premier league facilities.

Replacing Richard Dunn will also bring energy-saving benefits - that centre is currently one of the most energy inefficient buildings in Yorkshire. Mr Coulton said he had heard that behind street lighting, Richard Dunn was the Council’s biggest user of energy.

He said: “It has taken 18 months to get to this stage, and we’re so pleased with it.

“Richard Dunn served us well, but this will serve the people of Bradford for the next 40 or 50 years.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “It is so exciting to see our new Sedbergh Leisure Centre nearing completion and getting the final touches ready for opening to the residents of Bradford. This much needed new facility will offer the latest facilities in a modern and energy efficient environment. We hope that when the leisure centre does open residents will come along and have a look at what is on offer and enjoy using the new facilities.”

The Council is planning a number of guided tours around the centre once it opens its doors.