The Pods

The Pods is a leisure centre in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The leisure centre offers a wide range of modern facilities, including two swimming pools, a state of the art gym, a dance studio, a café and a crèche. The leisure centre is located in the town's Central Park near Ashby Road.[1][2]

The Pods
LocationScunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England
Construction
General contractorBowmer and Kirkland
Website
northlincs.gov.uk/leisure/leisure-centres/the-pods

The Pods is reported to be built the highest environmental standards and is aiming for a ‘excellent' BREAAM environmental rating. It has grey water recycling, a bio-mass boiler, and the roof is part covered with the sedum plants. Hexagonal panels and panes of glass have been used to create the buildings dome shaped roofs, which is of a similar style to Cornwall's Eden Project.[3] North Lincolnshire have provided a large pond and car park built next to the leisure centre.

The park and children's play areas around The Pods have also been refurbished in a two million pound restoration, completed in January 2011. Around it there is a park and tennis courts.[4]

Construction, funding and opening

Bowmer and Kirkland won the building contract and started the construction in October 2009, and as mentioned above; it is expected to be completed by Spring/Summer 2011. Plans to build the leisure centre were confirmed over two years before the actual start date of construction, but were delayed due to financial issues. Other than the council, the project has received funding from Sport England and The National Lottery.[5]

An amateur photograph showing part of The Pods during construction, as seen in February.

An accidental explosion in which several contractors working on the site were injured took place on the 17th of June 2011.[6][7]

The Pods was voted the most sustainable building/development of 2011 at the Property Industry Awards Yorkshire.[8]

Other ongoing projects to the surrounding area

The construction of the leisure centre comes with a large wave of other improvements to Scunthorpe. The town's Baths Hall on Doncaster Road is currently undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration project which will make the building capable of holding professional concerts and conferences. The style of the new venue will be similar to Grimsby Auditorium.

The towns earlier Leisure Centre in Carlton Road, which was only 27 years old, was Demolished before work finished on The Pods. The Carlton road site was sold for commercial development.[9]

References
  1. "The Pods". North Lincolnshire council. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  2. "The Pods". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  3. http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NorthLincs/News/PressReleases/PreviousPressReleases/November2009/150JobsCreated.htm Archived March 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Scunthorpe leisure centre The Pods opens". 4 July 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  5. http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NorthLincs/News/PressReleases/PreviousPressReleases/October2009/FinalPieceToJigsawOnMultiMillionPoundPodsSportsComplex08October2009.htm Archived March 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Chemical mixture caused explosion". Belfast Telegraph. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  7. "Explosion at Leisure Centre injures 3". 18 June 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  8. Fisher, Nigel (7 October 2011). "Scunthorpe Pods wins award after just three months". Scunthorpe Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  9. "Scunthorpe Leisure Centre to be demolished". 7 February 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2013.


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