Sandwell aquatics centre 'on track' for 2022 Commonwealth Games

A new aquatics centre for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is "on track", organisers have said.

The £73m building in Smethwick, West Midlands, will host 66 medal events - more than any other venue - and will be complete by spring next year.

So far, 163,000 tiles have been laid and the movable floor and diving tower are finished.

The aquatics centre is the only brand new venue being created for the Birmingham games.

The steps have now been added to the completed dive tower

Sandwell Council said the aquatics centre was a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity

Birmingham 2022 said work has now started on the foundations for the temporary warm-up pool and 650 square metres of acoustic render had been added in the main pool hall.

The next job will be to install the seating and then the springboards will be added and pools filled with water.

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The aquatics centre will be in use for all 11 days of competition at the event, but afterwards it will be made available to the public.

The 2014 silver medallist Sarah Barrow, who is now Swim England's diving development officer for the West Midlands, said: "The Sandwell Aquatics Centre will be a crucial hub for diving in this region and I can't wait to see young divers from across the West Midlands using these fantastic facilities."

Birmingham 2022 said swimming had been one of the most popular sports in recent ticket ballots

The seating capacity for the Games will be approximately 5,000 seats

The centre will house a 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool and a 25m diving pool

The first tile was laid in June 2021 by Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport, and since then 41,500 tiles have been added to the competition pool, and 32,500 in the dive pool, with more added to the other pools.

Mr Huddleston said it "gives Birmingham and the West Midlands world-class facilities and training opportunities to help nurture the next generation of diving champions".