Huddersfield Leisure Centre Launches
A £36m leisure centre has opened in Huddersfield to replace Huddersfield Sports Centre. Operated by Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) on behalf of Kirklees Council, the new Huddersfield Leisure Centre offers a wide range of facilities designed to appeal to all members of the community.
The new centre also offers one of the most comprehensive swimming offers in West Yorkshire with a 25m, eight-lane competition pool; a 20m training pool with moveable floor and a family leisure water facility with a flume, water slide, lazy river and other water features. As the first 25m competition pool in the Kirklees area, the pool will be able to host major regional and even national short course competitions. Other facilities include two sports halls, squash courts, martial arts studio, indoor soft play area and a café.
The leisure centre is also home to the new Huddersfield Climbing Centre, operated by the internationally renowned climber, John Dunne, as part of his company the Climbing Centre Group. The Huddersfield Climbing Centre includes a main lead wall standing at 12.5 metres, which has been developed for climbers of all abilities. The wall offers a wide variety of angles from steep walls to easy corners, spread over 27 climbing lines split between lead climbing and top-rope climbs. All routes will be regularly re-set to ensure there is always something new to try. The climbing wall also offers a dedicated training area, which includes a campus board and finger boards. In addition to roped climbing, the new centre offers a dedicated bouldering area.
This is the fourth facility from the Climbing Centre Group, which also has sites in Manchester, Harrogate and Reading. Like its sister sites, Huddersfield Climbing Centre offers courses, classes and activities to suit climbers of all ages and abilities. These include birthday parties and kids clubs to after-school and weekend clubs run through the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme. Other activities include private climbing experience sessions for children, families and adults; beginners climbing courses; further skills courses and personal coaching.
Huddersfield Leisure Centre was built by BAM construction. Designed to be as inclusive as possible, it includes a variety of access to the swimming pools, disabled changing rooms and toilets, hoists located throughout the centre, mobility scooter for ease of access, waterproof wheelchairs and wheelchair-friendly lockers.
David Heddon, KAL’s Chair of Trustees, said: “This is an amazing facility that the people of Kirklees will be very proud of for many years to come. It’s an outstanding facility and a clear demonstration of both Kirklees Council’s ambitions to improve the health and wellbeing of local people, while also helping KAL continue to realise our vision of helping more people, become more active, more often.”
The centre has been funded by a combination of cash from the sale of the existing site, funding from KAL and other council funds that would have otherwise been spent on repairs to Huddersfield Sports Centre, which has now closed.
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About Kirklees Active Leisure
Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) is a charitable trust which manages 14 leisure facilities and swimming pools on behalf of Kirklees Council. KAL’s vision is to help more people become more active, more often by providing high quality services and facilities at excellent value for money.
For further information please contact:
Vicky Kiernander at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel. 07812 381924
Email: vicky@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk
