New £24m recreation centre project planned for Blairgowrie

Drainage issues concerning the design of the replacement centre are said to have now been addressed by developers.

This week, councillors were told plans have been submitted and are expected to be formally validated within the next few days.

Perth and Kinross Council’s property sub-committee was updated on progress with the £24 million project on Monday 10 January.

In August last year, councillors were made aware of design issues relating to drainage due to the new recreation centre being a much bigger building than the one it is replacing, the Daily Record reports.

Plans for the sports facility located on Beeches Road include a six-lane 25-metre swimming pool, four court sports hall, gymnasium, dance studio, fitness suite, classroom, changing facilities and external artificial sports pitch.

The centre will be built to Passivhaus standard making it the first swimming pool and recreational facility of its kind in Scotland.
As part of the design process drainage impact assessments were undertaken and issues were found due to the larger building and more hard surfaces in terms of car parking.

At Monday’s meeting, the council’s head of business and resources Greg Boland told the committee that the council had worked with Scottish Water to identify “an appropriate solution” to drainage issues.

He said that the planning submission was put in just before Christmas.

Mr Boland told councillors they were just waiting on an updated programme and added: “The project is now moving forward and we await planning approval.”

CouncillorGrant Laing asked if the recreational centre would be fully operational at the same time as the new build.

A council officer replied: “Absolutely. The plan is always that the build won’t have any impact directly on the existing centre. The full project will take place with the existing centre open and only upon which time the new centre opens will the old centre be demolished to make way for the car park, etc. That’s the plan.”