Steelwork starts at new leisure centre

With piling works now complete and the steelwork started, everyone is eager that the new building will open on time in the summer of 2020.

Earlier this year it was announced that the construction phase would create more than 500 jobs, delivering an estimated £6.5 million in direct wages to the economy.

In the last two months Tandragee-based concrete and piling company Taranto installed over 1,000 concrete driven piles into the ground, ready to support the 650 tonnes of structural steel that will form the new construction.

County Down company Walter Watson Limited, the largest family owned structural steel fabricator in Ireland, is now on site erecting the structural steel, with the dry-side part of the steel structure due to finish in November and the wet-side due to be completed next year. A phenomenal amount of steel is required for this modern build which stretches 160 metres in length by 55 metres wide.

Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Julie Flaherty said it was ‘an exciting time’.

The new facility features an eight-lane, 50-metre swimming pool, a teaching pool, fun pool and gallery, a new gym, a health and beauty suite, activity rooms, squash courts and a large sports hall as well an outdoor watersports centre.