Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal officially opens the Mountbatten Leisure Centre

Princess Anne was given a tour of the centre and unveiled a commemorative plaque marking the official opening. The tour included the 50 metre, eight lane swimming pool, the 12.5 metre teaching pool, state of the art health and fitness suite, redeveloped sports hall, cycle track and athletics track.

The £20 million transformation of the Mountbatten Centre was funded by Portsmouth City Council and a £5.49 million grant from Sport England.

Since opening earlier this year, the Mountbatten Centre has resulted in massive improvements in leisure facilities for the whole of the city.

The 50 metre, eight lane swimming pool boasts an innovative design including a moveable floor and submersible boom capable of creating two separate 25 metre pools.

Together with the 12.5 metre teaching pool, this allows a wide range of activities – from swimming lessons and fun sessions to synchronised swimming, lane swimming, aquarobics and galas.
The state-of-art health and fitness suite is home to the very latest fitness equipment, including 150 machines and a relaxing health suite that includes a steam room, spa & treatment rooms, all served by new changing rooms.

Portsmouth City Council and Broadwater Leisure Ltd, a subsidiary of Parkwood Consultancy Services, signed a 25 year Design, Build, Operate & Maintain contract which involved the redevelopment and management of the Mountbatten Centre and the management of the adjacent Gymnastic Centre.

Both of the contracts commenced on the 7th January 2008 when Parkwood Community Leisure (the operating company) took over the management of the sites. Jeremy Lightfoot, Managing Director of Parkwood Consultancy Services and Director of Broadwater Leisure said “It is fantastic to see this excellent new leisure facility fully operational and that this partnership with the City Council has enhanced sporting provision for the local community ".

Sarah Lamb, Broadwater Leisure SPV Manager said “The open day was a very successful event which has helped raise the profile of a magnificent facility that provides a great leisure service for the people of Portsmouth.”

For further information about the Portsmouth Leisure project please click on the link below:

http://www.parkwoodconsultancyservices.co.uk/CaseStudy.aspx?casestudyid=18