Wednesday, 25 August 2010

Building Profile: Plymouth Life Centre

Plymouth Life Centre QUICK DETAILS!

Videos(1): Life Centre Flythrough,
Webcams (2): View Both Webcams Here
Location: Outland Road, Plymouth (Link: NA)
Planning Permission: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningonline?innoLink=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningapplications2/fulldetail.asp?AltRef=09/00258/FUL&ApplicationNumber=09/00258&AddressPrefix=&submit1=Go

Plymouth Life Centre NAAFI STATUS -  
Progressing

Facilities in the new Plymouth Life Centre will include:
  • A family leisure pool with flumes, 'beach entry' and bubble pool
  • An innovative climbing zone with 15-metre wall, aerial assault course, bouldering and abseiling. This will be the only dedicated facility of this kind south of Bristol – no other facility in the region currently offers high-wire extreme sports aimed at the 'recreational climbing market'.
  • An eight lane indoor bowls centre which will be one of the best in the region.
  • A 12-court multi-use sports hall suitable for badminton, five-a-side football, basketball, netball, trampolining and other sports. It will be the only one in Devon.
  • One of the largest fitness suites in the city, with 150 stations. This will be the largest public facility of this type in the area.
  • A 10-lane, 50-metre swimming pool with moveable floors and 'booms' allowing flexible use
  • One of the top four diving pools in the country, also offering a moveable floor so it can be used as a standard pool
  • A dryside training facility for competitive divers and other sportspeople, with trampolines, springboards, harnesses, crashmats and other specialist equipment
  • A relaxing oasis with sauna, steam rooms and showers
  • Multi-purpose areas for dance and martial arts, which can also be used for a crèche and soft play
  • A youth gym, squash, training and studio spaces
  • A public cafe open to everyone visiting the park
We are still committed to providing a new, full-size ice rink and spectator area but this will not form part of the Life Centre building because of the constraints of the site. We are exploring our options for providing a new rink, looking at different locations in the city with a view to getting expressions of interest in the near future.

Swimming

When the Life Centre is built, Plymouth will have the only 50-metre competition pool in Devon, Cornwall or Dorset. The aquatic facilities are set to be the largest of their type in Southern England (outside of the Olympic Village)
The layout and flexibility of the pools will essentially mean we are creating four 25-metre swimming pools. In addition, the leisure water can also be used for teaching. By doing this we hope to be able to offer public swimming space at any time of the day (except during major swimming competitions and events).
We are still working on plans for pools in the Plymstock area and in the north of the city and the Life Centre will help to position Plymouth as the 'pathfinder authority' for swimming in the West Country, meaning significant benefits for the city as a whole.

Accessibility

We have been working very closely with the disabled community, local and national disability sports organisations and access specialists to ensure that the Life Centre is accessible for all users.
As well as dedicated disabled parking, key features include:
  • level access throughout the building to all facilities
  • independent access into both the 50-metre pool and diving pool, together with moveable floors within the swimming pools to allow for competitive disabled swimming
  • accessible toilets and changing accommodation linked with all sports areas
  • 'Changing Places' provision for people with profound disabilities
  • disabled bowls buggies
  • an 'Inclusive Fitness' accredited suite
  • an accessible climbing facility.