Work is about to start on the new pool at Waddon. Demolition of the former Red Gates School is another step in the progress being made to deliver regeneration in Croydon, and specifically, to equip Waddon with the borough’s newest pool and leisure centre.
The new development will provide the community with local facilities which include a six lane 25m pool, a learner pool, fitness gym, sports hall, flexible rooms for sports use and community hire and a children’s education centre. It will also include the provision of 187 new homes.
Contractors move on to the Purley Way site on Monday 15 March to begin clearance in readiness for the regeneration scheme. The 18 month construction period is expected to start in September.
Both the former Propeller Public House and Waylands Day Centre, which were Red Gates’ neighbours on the 2.9 hectare development site, have already been pulled down. Waddon Infants School will remain in educational use until the end of the year when it will be relocated on the Duppas Junior School site in Duppas Road as part of the new Aerodrome School.
The project is being developed as part of Croydon Council’s and John Laing’s regeneration vehicle, CCURV. As part landowners of the development site The Hyde Group are working with CCURV to help deliver the 119 Affordable Housing units across the site. One of the key benefits of progressing the development through CCURV, rather than through a more traditional design and build route, is the speed at which the project can be delivered. A saving of approximately 6 months is being realised.
Councillor Steve O’Connell, cabinet member for regeneration and economic development said: “Knocking down Red Gates School is the next stage of a journey that will see a new leisure scheme in Waddon preparing to open in just two years’ time. This is a genuinely exciting project and is a great way of recycling old, redundant buildings into a modern, sustainable development in line with the needs and wishes of local people."
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