Work is due to start on the £36m Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre regeneration next week.
Graphic: SCC
Article continues after this message...
Southampton City Council says work, to be delivered by Morgan Sindall, is the “first major phase” of the “comprehensive redevelopment works that will transform the long-established sports centre” on Thornhill Road, Bassett.
Upgrades will include creating new facilities as well as revamping existing amenities.
Improvements include a new Community Hub building offering two covered netball and tennis courts, a gym and fitness suite complete with accessible changing rooms, flexible space for sporting clubs and the public to use, and a cafe with landscape seating terrace including a balcony.
The former boating lake will be transformed into a new ‘Family Zone’ to provide skateboarding facilities, a cycling pump track, play equipment and a picnic space in a landscaped setting.
There will also be a new athletics grandstand, a new ski lodge and other improvements for the Alpine Snowsports Centre, three new artificial grass football pitches, and improvements to parking, cricket and hockey facilities.
The council said the sports centre will remain open as much as possible whilst the work is carried out, and updates about the closure of specific facilities will be shared online via Morgan Sindall’s microsite, where there’s also more detail about the project.
Work is due to complete in early 2027.
The sports centre is currently run by Places Leisure on behalf of Southampton City Council, but the council is in the process of procuring a new operator to run the facility along with other leisure sites across the city.
Previously
Sports Centre plans revised amid spiralling costs
Leisure limbo: City seeks fresh face for contract