Redcar civic centre and sports complex opens to the public

After a 25-month construction period, Redcar's new civic centre and sports complex has been opened to the public

Redcar's new Leisure and Community Heart is officially beating.

After a 25-month construction period, the town’s new civic centre and sports complex was opening to the public today with a free family fun event.

And delighted council leader George Dunning predicts the £31m heart will set pulses racing when people experience it.

He said: “Delivering a project of this size and quality in these challenging times is nothing short of remarkable.

“Redcar and Cleveland now has the civic centre it deserves and one which will help drive the redevelopment of the borough.”

The impressive building, with its light and airy interior, is effectively split into two halves.

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Opening of the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure & Community Heart

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“One is full of civic and business facilities including a council chamber, mayor’s parlour, register services, meeting rooms and 44 business units, while the other is devoted to sport and leisure, with gym and fitness studios, a sprung floored sports hall and dance space and a well-equipped gym.

And for the first time since the old one closed in 1997, Redcar has a swimming pool again - a six-lane, 25m affair, as well as a variable-depth teaching pool with hydraulic adjustable floor and a beach style pool with play apparatus and water fountains. There’s also the FlowRider machine, which gives anyone over 42ins tall the chance to surf or bodyboard artificial waves, plus sauna and steam rooms.

Councillor Olwyn Peters, Cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said: “This development provides the facilities for people to live healthy, active and fulfilling lives.

“It takes some believing that all this has happened in two years. Just to be standing here in such an amazing place shows Redcar and Cleveland’s vision. There were times we thought it wasn’t going to happen, but it has and we’ve delivered.”

But Mark Hannon, the council’s Cabinet member for economic development, stressed the new building was about more than just leisure. He said: “The commercial space provides entrepreneurs with an opportunity to nurture business ideas, develop new companies and create employment.

“We are committed to driving economic growth so that the entire borough can prosper.”