Metnor unveil new multi-million pound leisure centre

Metnor Construction has unveiled its latest project from its leisure portfolio in a £20m sports centre based in East Hampshire.

Run by Everyone Active in partnership with East Hampshire District Council, Alton Sports Centre was officially opened by Olympic silver medallist Colin Jackson and five times world Champion swimmer, Mark Foster this month.

Metnor Construction prides itself on its skilled workforce and for this project it worked with 10 regional subcontractors, employing almost 90 people from the North East.

Chris Cant, CEO at Metnor Group, said: “At Metnor, we do things differently. A lot of our projects are outside of the region; however, we believe we have outstanding talent in the North East, and we owe a lot of the success of this particular project to our fantastic workforce from the region.”

Contract manager, Chris Johnson added: “The project was a smooth collaboration with both Everyone Active and East Hampshire District Council, so smooth we actually completed 5 weeks ahead of programme. We granted early access to the site in the final stages to allow for staff training and installation of gym equipment – a rare occasion on any construction project. We’re so pleased the open day was a huge success and hope the community love the new sports centre.”

The centre includes state-of-the-art facilities featuring a six-lane main pool, a learner pool with adjustable floor, a 130-station fitness suite, six-court sports hall, climbing wall, squash courts, café, destination spa, five-a-side football pitches and more.

Ian Cook, regional contract manager at Everyone Active, commented: “This is a fantastic investment into a state-of-the-art sports centre that will serve the community for many years to come. Metnor has been absolutely outstanding, we’re really impressed. Chris Johnson has been locally based on the project and very flexible to work with.”

The next phase of the project is underway which will see the previous centre demolished making way for a new spacious car park alongside new sports pitches.