Triple award success for Plymouth Life Centre

The Plymouth Life Centre has scooped its third prestigious award in less than a month.

The latest accolade comes from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South West, which has just named the sports and leisure facility ‘Major Project of the Year’ in its annual awards scheme.

ICE South West’s Project of the Year Awards recognise construction projects ‘of particular merit, physical achievement, innovation or ingenuity, which promote the excellence of the engineering profession’.

Trish Johnson, ICE South West Regional Director, said: “The entries this year were of an extremely high standard and all of those recognised in the ‘major project’ category thoroughly deserved the acknowledgement. The Plymouth Life Centre fought off some very strong competition.”

The centre – owned by Plymouth City Council and run by Everyone Active – was built by Balfour Beatty, with its engineering design completed by Arup. Its primary aim was to increase levels of activity by replacing ageing facilities that were no longer fit for purpose with a first class, fully accessible sports centre for all ages and abilities. The building was designed with flexibility in mind, so that it could cater for a wide range of uses and meet the needs of the city for many years to come.

ICE South West judges described the centre as ‘a genuinely multi-purpose, multi-function facility delivered with engineering flair at all levels...whilst bringing some of the magic and legacy of London 2012 deep into the South West’.

Since opening in March 2012 the venue has welcomed well over a million and a half visitors making it one of the busiest leisure facilities in the UK. It has won national acclaim for the quality of its aquatics facilities and has already hosted both the British Gas Diving Championships and British Gas Swimming Masters. The Olympic and Paralympic Flames visited the centre last summer and athletes who train at the pool won gold and bronze medals at London 2012.

Deputy Council Leader Peter Smith said: “It’s fantastic that the Plymouth Life Centre project team has received this recognition from ICE South West. We worked closely with Balfour Beatty, architect Archial and engineer Arup to design a facility that maximised the space available and catered for the sporting needs of all residents. The centre has already established itself as one of the country’s most popular leisure venues and this is down to the strong partnership working between the Council and its partners, right from the planning stages.”

John Bunker, Director of Operations for Balfour Beatty, said: “We are delighted to receive this prestigious award which recognises the special relationship Balfour Beatty enjoyed with our client, Plymouth City Council and rewards the whole project team for their efforts in creating this superb facility.”