Work to begin on new leisure centres

Plans to rebuild two leisure centres have moved forward with work to begin this autumn.

The rebuilding of Sheffield venues Springs Leisure Centre in East Bank Road and Concord Leisure Centre in Shiregreen Lane had already been approved by the city council.

At a meeting of the authority's finance and performance policy committee on Monday, members agreed to release £67,000 of the budget for the initial work and signed off on new lease arrangements.

Councillor Elle Dodd said the centres would provide "state-of-the-art, affordable sport and leisure facilities" for the community.

"Sheffield is a city of sport and home of the world's oldest football club with Olympic standard facilities and hundreds of young inspiring aspiring athletes," she said.

Building work at Springs – which will be renamed in honour of pioneering black Premier League football referee Uriah Rennie – is set to begin in October and take two years, while work at Concord will begin in summer 2027.

Both centres will remain open during construction, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Kate Clark, service manager for physical activity, sport and health, said the work to Concord Sports Centre would allow it to sit "much better into its surroundings".

"We've got a lot of informal outdoor sports provision and then we'll also have the more formal sports provision at Concord Sports Centre," she said.

"That will give us a real opportunity to create integrated indoor and outdoor facilities hub for the city, which would be really fantastic for that local area."

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