Batchwood Sports Centre To Reopen After £6.6m Revamp

Batchwood Sports Centre in St Albans, Hertfordshire is to reopen on 26 May following a £6.6m redevelopment.

The centre, which was devastated in an arson attack in 2011, includes six indoor tennis courts - an increase on the four in the previous facility - and a new home for the St Albans Judo Club.

Other facilities include a 48-station health club with a strength and conditioning suite and refurbished squash courts.

Owned by St Albans City and District Council, the centre will be operated by leisure management company 1Life. The centre was designed by AFLS+P architects with Willmott Dixon as lead contractor for the construction project.

Funding for the redevelopment has come from a combination of external grants, insurance funds and the council's leisure capital budget.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) provided a £600,000 grant for the project to ensure grassroots tennis remains strong in the region. A further £500,000 was received from Sport England's Iconic Facilities Fund.

John Golding, LTA's operations manager for the eastern region, said: "Batchwood has historically played, and will continue to play, a very important role for tennis throughout the region.

"As a high performance centre it will be working to develop some of our most promising players and as a coach education centre it will continue to drive both the quantity and quality of the tennis workforce in the area.

"Crucially, in addition to these aspects it will also be at the centre of driving tennis participation throughout the district."

• 1Life also manages Harpenden Sports Centre, Harpenden Pool, London Colney Adventure World, the Alban Arena, Harpenden Public Halls and Abbey View on behalf of the Council.

Source: leisureopportunities.co.uk