High Wycombe Leisure Centre

Buckinghamshire

  • Client

    Wycombe District Council

  • Contractor

  • Value

    £39m

  • Completion Date

    January 2016

The Challenge

In 2009, Buckinghamshire Council adopted a sports facility strategy that recommended the support of a new stadium and sports hub, along with the development of a new sports centre for High Wycombe, replacing a facility that had served the local community for four decades. Over the years the centre expanded, and many hundreds and thousands of people used it.

One of the issues with the existing gym was that there wasn’t much room to fit many people in, which would make them feel cramped and was limiting membership growth.

The existing leisure centre continued to operate throughout this project which meant the new one had to be delivered without impacting the operations. There were access difficulties at the original leisure centre’s existing car park and to reduce the loss of parking capacity at the existing site, works accelerated on the car park which helped release 100 spaces four months early.

The Solution

In order to make the project a success, it was essential that the design and construction teams worked collaboratively, particularly when building the Olympic size swimming pool.

The new design for the gym has been a significant improvement, providing lots of natural light due to the high ceilings and open spaces which also creates more room for people to exercise in.

The Results

Since opening the centre in 2016 opened there has been a real sense of excitement in the local area. The 10,750m2 rectangular sports centre is one of the biggest sports facilities in the South East

Members and staff can enjoy the exciting new facilities such as a 150 station gym, indoor cycling studio, 50 metre competition pool, 12 badminton court sports hall, steam room and sauna and more. Since opening, the centre doubled its number of memberships from 2000 to 4000.

360 training weeks

Apprentices

£250,000.

SME Spend

£5,000,000.

Added Value

8.3

Client Satisfaction

Client Testimonials

“The swimming pool caters for everyone, from elite athletes right the way through the community and teaching beginners of all ages to swim is tremendous. Around the country, swimming facilities are very, very expensive to run so when I heard the leisure centre was moving, the concern was that a lot of councils are doing away with swimming pools. The centre shows the commitment Wycombe has put into the community. The Sports centre, old and new, is much more than elite athletes, we do have athletes training here that will be in Rio in a few months time and that is a great thing, but it is about getting the community active and involved and the number of clubs involved here is incredible.”

Contractor Performance | Commitments

Fair

Regular payments and have payment periods not exceeding 30 days

Sustainability

99% of waste diverted from landfill

Safe

42/50 (Bronze award achieved)

Legacy

360 Training weeks achieved and 11 apprentices

Aftercare

Handover & Aftercare Contractor Promise

SCF Framework Manager

James Wright

Email: james.wright@hants.gov.uk

Phone: 07761330560

Contractor Framework Manager

Guy Dawes

Email: guy.dawes@willmottdixon.co.uk

Phone: 07794218011

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