£35m recreation centre leak delay is 'not acceptable'

Leak Contractors are on site attempting to identify where the latest pool leak is as well as considering "other more radical options"

- KATHRYN ANDERSON

A council chief has told councillors the five-month delay in opening the new £36 million Blairgowrie Recreation Centre is “not acceptable”.

Contractors are on site attempting to identify where the latest pool leak is as well as considering “other more radical options”.

The unidentified leak in the six-lane 25-metre swimming pool - which has been built with a movable floor - has further delayed the opening of Scotland's first leisure centre built to environmentally-friendly Passivhaus standards.

The state-of-the-art, low-energy facility has been built for the use of both Blairgowrie High School and the wider community. As well as the pool, it has a four-court sports hall; two-court sports hall/gymnasium; a fitness suite; dance studio; several different changing facilities; an office and a PE classroom, and a floodlit synthetic outdoor pitch.

At a meeting of PKC’s Finance and Resources Committee on Wednesday, April 30, a Blairgowrie and Glens ward councillor asked when locals could finally expect to step foot inside the new sports centre.

Conservative councillor Caroline Shiers said: “We were heading for a post-Christmas opening and then we were going to go and work off our Easter eggs and now we're looking at maybe it's our summer bodies we'll be working on.

“I think the community has been very very patient and that has been appreciated but an indication of a projected handover and then opening time would be helpful.”

PKC's strategic lead for Property Services Stephen Crawford said: “My apologies from both my contractors’ supply chain and myself for not being able to deliver this on time.