Northern Ireland’s newest public leisure facility will officially open on August 15 following an on-track 32-month build and a multi-million-pound investment.
The largest capital project to date undertaken by ABC Council, and among the largest in Northern Ireland, the new multi-use sports and leisure complex represents a major new flagship health and wellbeing destination.
The stunning new leisure facility will welcome visitors from across the borough and beyond to its new 50-metre pool, a young children’s indoor leisure water feature, a 1,000m2 state-of-the-art gym, multiple studios, sensory room, eight-court sports halls, spin studio, soft play area and an on-site café.
The cutting-edge facility also incorporates an outdoor water sports provision offering a wide range of water based activities including windsurfing, water skiing and paddle sports.
The scale of South Lake Leisure Centre has also been future-proofed to meet the needs of a growing population and rising demand for a range of leisure, amateur and professional sporting enthusiasts.
Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Mealla Campbell, said: “With a confirmed opening date only six months away, I’m delighted that this stunning new centre which will have fabulous facilities for everyone in the borough to access and enjoy, is almost complete.
South Lake Leisure Centre provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform and dramatically enhance the quality of health and leisure provision within the borough, providing community access for everyone to the best facilities available in the UK and Ireland.”
The new centre will also provide a competitive range of flexible membership and customer schemes allowing easy and affordable access on a one-off or longer term basis so that everyone can enjoy the new facility in a way that suits their lifestyle and budget.
The new membership arrangements will give customers access to all eight council-owned indoor leisure facilities for £29.95 per month – a reduction from the current membership scheme.
Award-winning construction company Farrans has been spearheading the transformative build since initial enabling works got under way early in 2018, creating 500 jobs on site during construction as part of a project which has delivered at least £6.5 million in direct wages to the local economy.
As part of the preparations to pave the way for the official opening of South Lake Leisure Centre, interim arrangements have also been agreed for the planned phase-out of nearby leisure facilities in Portadown (Cascade Leisure Centre), Lurgan (Waves Leisure Complex) and Brownlow (Craigavon Leisure Centre).
These facilities, which are approaching the end of their functional life, will continue to remain open to the public until late June and into August to ensure a seamless transition and to accommodate staff training and orientation of the new centre.
Waves in Lurgan will continue to operate as normal until closing on Saturday 20th June. Craigavon Leisure Centre will remain open until Saturday 4th July and Cascades will remain open until Friday 14th August before SLLC opens on Saturday 15th August.
*Craigavon Watersports Centre will remain open at its current location as normal throughout the summer, migrating to the new leisure centre in September 2020.
For questions, queries or updates please email sllc@armaghbanbridgecraigavon.gov.uk
