Darwen RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos


LT block logo JOIN THE DEBATE BY ADDING YOUR COMMENTS ON THESE STORIES

Registering to post comments on the Lancashire Telegraph website only takes a few seconds. Click here to go to the registration page.

New Darwen leisure centre will be 'best in region'

8:40pm Tuesday 17th November 2009 in


THE new £12.7million Darwen Leisure Centre will ‘blow people’s minds’ when it opens in two months, bosses claim.

Eighty workers are on site off Green Street, putting the finishing touches to a host of state-of-the-art facilities inside the three-storey com-plex which opens to the public on January 30.

Paul Gracey, team project manager said: “It’s a gem. It’s the most prestigious leisure centre of its type in the region and is unlike anything else going up in either the public or private sector. It will blow people’s minds.

“A lot of new buildings are ‘bake and shake’. They’re covered steel constructions that are meant to last 25 years and then come down, but this is nothing like that.

“This is made from quality materials that will last the distance: at least 50 years.”

Facilities have also been specially designed to be customer-friendly, and disa-bled user groups have been consulted about access iss-ues.

Materials fitted in the two swimming pool areas have been chosen to aid acoustics so that loud noises are dulled but low frequencies are carried, meaning swim-ming teachers do not have to shout.

The main swimming pool, which has eight-lanes and a moveable floor, can be used for competitions, and a video playback screen is about to be fitted.

More than £250,000 has been spent on gym equip-ment and large sauna, massage, aromatherapy areas are fitted into the changing room areas.

Mr Gracey added: “It’s important that we move away from the old image of what a council leisure centre is.

“This will facilitate more regeneration in Darwen and I think it will encourage people to move here as well as businesses.”

Colours used on the outside of the building have been specifically chosen to fit in with the town centre surroundings.

And local workers and materials have been used as much as possible in the construction, with bricks made in Rossendale and electricians from Clitheroe.

A pre-sales suite for membership enquiries opens on Monday at Darwen Lib-rary Theatre.

Comments(18)

CapitaBackHander says...
9:07pm Tue 17 Nov 09

Excuse me BUT I think you will find it IS a steel construction that is covered up. We have all seen it for over a year and how else would it be built? What a daft statement!
Also got the new fad metal sheets on the side which will be rusty within a year!
Nice to see it is coming along, one day the illegal daily blocking of the highway may end and people can park or not have to stop while lorries drive the wrong way up the one way street!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

CapitaBackHander says...
9:10pm Tue 17 Nov 09

just to add.... local workers used? When were scousers or mancs (that is the company who road swept Everton Street and Tockholes Rd away) classed as local? Who is this guy trying to fool?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

CapitaBackHander says...
9:11pm Tue 17 Nov 09

Pre sales, free with Beez card as promised all along....

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

bossindian says...
9:13pm Tue 17 Nov 09

For £13 million I want it to last 150 years not just 50 years!!! Also, why are they having a pre-sales suite - it should be open to the free Beez gym membership instead of having to work out in a portakabin like the one at Vale!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

happycyclist says...
9:23pm Tue 17 Nov 09

C'mon, guys, Gracey is obviously a dick when it comes to making announcements, but the new leisure centre is looking fantastic. There will inevitably be a few hiccups when it first opens, but Darwen will have a leisure centre that other towns will look on with envy.
And 50 years is a reasonable time-span for the money. With proper maintenance, it will probably last much longer than that.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Ian the Beancounter says...
10:18pm Tue 17 Nov 09

As someone who has suffered an injury in the last 18 months which has resulted in a disabilty, I am unable to keep fit by walking. I can't wait until the new centre is open so that I can swim and try to get fit again!!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

specialbrew says...
10:36pm Tue 17 Nov 09


Happy - nice one Al.


Report this post »    Register/Log In »

"Archaea" says...
11:40pm Tue 17 Nov 09

I can’t believe that the old façade has been reused. For some strange reason the citizens of Darwen have to keep one foot in the past. A complete change always seems a bridge to far.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

CAG1 says...
9:47am Wed 18 Nov 09

"Archaea" wrote:
I can’t believe that the old façade has been reused. For some strange reason the citizens of Darwen have to keep one foot in the past. A complete change always seems a bridge to far.
I totally agree. When will the town (and Blackburn) move on?

When Manchester rebuilt its city centre following the IRA bomb, you didn't see M&S trying to reconstruct the 60s/70s original building they had.

They should have designed the leisure centre without the worrying about keeping it looking like the previous one. Was this citizens wanting this or planning people so far removed from citizens that they think this is what people want?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Grizzly says...
10:38am Wed 18 Nov 09

i cant wait until this opens up and can finally book a badminton court. The courts at vale are impossible to book now because they've block booked the football!!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

neil1967 says...
12:36pm Wed 18 Nov 09

best in the region my foot the horrible cladding on the building is the same cheap rubbish blackburn council as been using for 30 years.it will discolour and look disgusting within 2 years.waves(looks a mess),shadsworth(dis
gusting)darwen will soon look a mess.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Darwen83 says...
1:36pm Wed 18 Nov 09

Can somone confirm if it is free membership with a Beez card or if you have to pay membership???

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Incoming Fax says...
3:13pm Wed 18 Nov 09

I prefered the tradition of the old one...

That glass front won't last long in Darwen..

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

amazed says...
5:21pm Wed 18 Nov 09

Good news that the Leisure Centre is nearly complete. My only reservation is the design of the exterior. What a hotspotch!! The green cladding is diabolical. It was used on the replacement "model lodging house" in Berry Street. It looks like a lift shaft there and is showing signs of traffic dirt already. It is also used extensively on the new Blackburn College on Barbara Castle Way. Some salesman has made a packet in bonus's. The other cladding is not metal - it is I believe a system known as "Rain - screen" and is frost proof ceramic material supplied within 15 miles from Darwen. If the old entrance HAD to be used, it is sited in the best place but I always advocated that it should be relocated in Bold Venture Park if it had to be retained at all. If you look back on previous reports though, I think that the "people of Darwen who don't like change" voted for this to be retained. I just hope that it is given a thorough cleaning. Finally, there are too many angles, projecting "bits" for my liking which gives the whole edifice an untidy look. Any more comments?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

"Archaea" says...
5:59pm Wed 18 Nov 09

amazed

Come and join us in the twenty first century. It’s quite easy, simply think stainless steel and glass. It might not last long but it keeps our employment figures looking good.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

amazed says...
12:53pm Thu 19 Nov 09

"Archaea", Down House. I am not sure what your comments mean. You don't say whether you approve of the design? I think that you do not!! I expect the glass is toughened and seems not to have suffered at Blackburn Waves. No, I think your comment is too simple - in fact it has no substance at all. If this is 21st. Century design then take me back a few years into the 20th. I fully expect the interior to be "state of the art" but outside, apart from the ceramic panels, the green stuff ugh!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

"Archaea" says...
4:18pm Thu 19 Nov 09

The interior looks stunning at night when it’s illuminated, but I still can’t get my head round the old façade.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

CapitaBackHander says...
2:00pm Fri 20 Nov 09

Only yesterday I was commenting how some idiot had said that this building was different. I think the locals wanted the old style entrance AND for the building to look that way, surely they didn't want the current mess of a mixup.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

More Darwen stories


FUTURE PERFECT: Blackburn with Darwen Leisure Services staff on a tour of the new Darwen Leisure Centre FUTURE PERFECT: Blackburn with Darwen Leisure Services staff on a tour of the new Darwen Leisure Centre

Most popular



Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

Local Businesses