A £450,000 refurbishment scheme to upgrade facilities at King Alfred Sports Centre in Highbridge is set to begin.
Major refurbishment works will start on Monday (21st September) at the centre, which suffered severe flood damage in August 2014.
Under the investment plan, 1610 – which currently manages the leisure facilities on behalf of the County Council – will contribute almost £400,000 and Somerset County Council £50,000 to transform and update the facilities.
The centre at King Alfred School was temporarily closed for initial repair work to be carried out and, whilst the building and services have partially re-opened, the gym area has remained unavailable.
The work is expected to take between 8–10 weeks to complete with the new facilities being fully re-opened by early December.
Tim Nightingale, 1610’s CEO, says the investment at the centre will transform its fitness facilities and services. “Funding to modernise King Alfred’s Sports Centre is much needed. We have spent the last year working with SCC to repair the water-damaged building and I would like to thank both the staff and customers for their understating and patience,” he told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“The refurbishment will revitalise King Alfred’s for both the local community and the school students.”
“We hope to extend services at the site during the next ten years and we are fully committed to providing an excellent leisure facility within the heart of the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge community.”
Denise Hurr, Head Teacher for King Alfred School, added: “We are very excited to see the redevelopment of the Sports Centre begin. The development of the facilities will benefit the whole community and will see state of the art provision on site.”
Cllr David Hall, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Business, Inward Investment and Policy, said: “It is good news that this refurbishment is going to take place and I’m pleased to hear that we now have a start date for work to begin. This is a considerable investment in leisure services in Burnham and the improvements will bring benefits for both the students and the wider community.”
