New £42m Derby leisure facility on track to open in spring 2022

The pool is set to be filled with 3.5 million litres of water

Work on Derby's new £42m leisure complex, featuring an Olympic-size swimming pool, is months away from completion, the city council has said.

The Moorways Sports Village will also feature two leisure pools, a water park, gym and café.

Work on the facility, owned by Derby City Council, started two years ago after it was approved in 2017.

Ross McCristal from the authority said it would be "regionally significant" when it opens in spring 2022.

He added he was confident the facilities will be "the best in the region".

The facility, which is scheduled to open in spring in 2022, will also feature a water park

The leisure pool will include a wave machine

The multi-million pound complex, in the Allenton area of the city, will also have a sauna and steam rooms, health and fitness studios and soft play areas for young children.

The 50m Olympic pool will feature moving floors and booms so it can be divided into smaller pools and the leisure pool will include a wave machine.

Jonathan Gisbourne, project manager at Bowmer and Kirkland, said over the next few days workers will start to fill the swimming pools using 3.5 million litres of water.

The city council hopes to appoint a private company to run the facility.

Derby City Council said the sports village would be run by a private company

The authority has said Queen's Leisure Centre, which has the largest public swimming pool in the city, faces closure once the sports village opens next year.

Part of the centre, on Cathedral Road, which opened in 1932, is currently closed due to ongoing maintenance along with health and safety issues.

The city council concluded in a report it was no longer fit for purpose.

The new Moorways Sports Village replaces the council-run Moorways swimming pool, which had also struggled with maintenance and safety problems.

Queen's Leisure Centre is currently closed due to ongoing maintenance