Dumfries DG One leisure complex defects 'beggar belief'

A council has said defects found in its flagship leisure centre "beggar belief" and will take about two-and-a-half years in total to fully address.

The DG One facility in Dumfries shut in October last year.

Dumfries and Galloway Council said the scale of the problems meant repairs would not start until autumn this year and would take 18 months to complete.

The local authority is seeking compensation from the contractors who built the complex.

Alex Haswell, director of community and customer services, said: "Dumfries and Galloway Council very much regret having to close DG One and the disruption caused to our valued customers and to the people of Dumfries and Galloway.

"We had to close the building to allow further extensive, intrusive investigations into the condition of the building in order to discover all the defects.

"The serious nature and extent of the defects discovered beggar belief."

'Specific standards'

He said the council had taken a lot of criticism but it had moved "as quickly as possible" due to the denial of responsibility by contractors Kier Construction.

He claimed it was clear that "certain specific standards" had not been achieved.

He said the costs of the repairs had now been estimated at between £6m and £10m when it had previously been thought they would be about £5m.

Mr Haswell said the authority was working to recover "all associated costs" with the closure and repairs.

A gym facility has been set up in the town's Loreburn Hall while the centre is shut and a temporary swimming pool sited in the Ice Bowl car park.

A spokesman for Kier Construction said: "The investigation at DG One Leisure Centre is still ongoing and the findings from technical experts are yet to be concluded.

"It would therefore be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time."