Topping out ceremony for new Littlehampton Wave
The new Littlehampton leisure centre has celebrated another major milestone with a Topping Out Ceremony held on Monday [9 July 2018].
The event, to mark the roof of the building being completed, was attended by the Chairman of Arun District Council, the Managing Director of construction company Willmott Dixon and the Managing Director of Freedom Leisure, as well as staff from the teams working on the project.
Work to complete the new centre, which has been named Littlehampton Wave, has progressed at pace this year and the building is really taking shape.
The next phase of the project will include the final completion of the exterior of the building, tiling work and testing the new pools.
Set to open in spring 2019, the multi-million pound facility is one of the council’s most significant recent investments and is being built on the site of the existing leisure centre on Sea Road.
It will include an eight-lane 25-metre pool, a training pool with moveable floor, an 80-85 station gym, a dance studio which can divide into two spaces, and a spinning studio.
There will also be a café, multi-purpose room/meeting room and sauna.
Chairman of Arun District Council, Councillor Alan Gammon, said: “Reaching this milestone is an important moment to celebrate, it’s great to see this wonderful new leisure centre coming to life in front of us.
“We look forward to its final completion and grand opening next year.”
Councillor Mike Clayden, Arun District Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, said: “We have worked extensively with major partners to develop a modern new leisure centre which will offer a wide range of activities and services, aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the whole community.”
Ivan Horsfall Turner, from Freedom Leisure, said: “It is exciting to be at this milestone stage of “topping out” as we get ever closer to the opening of the new leisure centre for Littlehampton.
“As the chosen leisure operator of Arun District Council – we are looking forward to operating this flagship centre that will offer some fantastic health and leisure opportunities for the local communities in Arun.”
Roger Forsdyke, Managing Director at Willmott Dixon, said: “We are proud to be involved with such a special project and for us it is more than just building the leisure centre. It has allowed our team to have a very active role in the community, engaging with the local schools to integrate them into the journey of its construction. We cannot wait to share the finished project with everyone.”
The construction project has also served as an educational resource in promoting the STEM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths with local schools.
Students have been taught about the link between what they study at school and potential future careers. Workshops, assemblies and visits to site have demonstrated how the STEM subjects are used in construction with the aim of inspiring the next generation of engineers.