Braywick Leisure Centre taking shape ahead of summer 2020 opening

With less than a year until it is due to open its doors, the Braywick Leisure Centre is taking shape.

The £32.8million Braywick Road project is being funded by the council and will replace the Magnet Leisure Centre in Holmanleaze, which is earmarked for homes.

It is about 20 per cent bigger than the Magnet and it is expected that it will attract 200,000 more people a year than the 800,000 who go to the existing site.

Construction company Wates Group started work in October last year and completion is scheduled for next summer.

Project lead for the gym, sports and leisure facility is Kevin Mist, who has overseen the Magnet Leisure Centre for 20 years.

Kevin said: “Wherever possible we’ve tried to incorporate [customers’] views, and the architect’s knowledge, and Wates’ knowledge –because they’ve built quite a number of these facilities.”

He likens the Magnet, which opened in 1975, to a ‘Tardis’ inside as a result of multiple extensions.

 “We’ve learnt a lot from that design,” he said. “And this one, there’s hardly any corridors – everything comes off ‘the street’.”

‘The street’ is the footpath that will come straight from Braywick Road, through the centre of the building and out the other side into the park.

The idea of the thoroughfare is to bring the outside in – a theme compounded by the glass frontage and sliding doors at the front and back of the building.

A steel hair-pin arch marks the entrance to the centre, which is over two floors.

Inside the entrance there is a cafe with an outside seating area covered by a canopy. The inside of the eatery has an internal glass wall looking on to the two pools.

Access to the pools is via large unisex changing rooms which will include underfloor heating, between 20-25 showers, 40-45 cubicles and about 236 lockers.

The competition pool (25 metres in length) will have 10 lanes – two more than the one in the Magnet – and a lift into it for people with disabilities.

The learner pool is twice as big as the one in the Magnet and includes two small slides and a jacuzzi in the corner.

The health suite will feature a jacuzzi, monsoon shower, sauna, steam room and a cold-water bucket shower.

On the right-hand side of the ground floor is the sports hall.

It is 2,148 square metres and will be marked with two five-a-side football pitches, 10 badminton courts, two basketball courts and two volleyball courts.

There will also be access to four trampolines.

Part of the sports hall will be used for the cultural space.

Kevin said it will be similar to The Magnet’s Pearce Suite and have 650 seats for theatrical productions. It will also be used for large aerobic and pilates sessions and roller discos.

At the end of the street, sliding doors will open up into the park ,which will contain a multi-use games area (MUGA).

It will consist of six netball courts and a 40x60m flood-lit all-weather football pitch.

On the first floor of the centre customers will find a glass balustrade which looks on to the street, linked bridges and a glazed roof.

At the front of the building on the first floor is the gym. Also on the first floor is a spinning room, two dance studios and four squash courts – including one ‘show court’ which has a glazed back wall.

Wise Owls Nursery, currently at the Magnet, will also be sited at the centre.

Cllr Samantha Rayner (Con, Eton and Castle), deputy leader and lead member for resident and leisure services, said: “It’s a brave and exciting project which is going to transform sport and community facilities for the Royal Borough.”