Work is underway on a £2.35million project to revamp and extend a popular Sudbury leisure centre.

East Anglian Daily Times: Work at Kingfisher Leisure Centre in Sudbury will be completed in three phases Picture: ARCHANTWork at Kingfisher Leisure Centre in Sudbury will be completed in three phases Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

Ground has been officially broken at Kingfisher Leisure Centre, in Station Road, and work to improve the facility is expected to be completed by March 2020.

What improvements are being made?

As part of a £2.35m investment by Babergh District Council, with £100,000 of the funds provided through the Community Infrastructure Levy monies, the leisure centre will be extended and refurbished to include:

- A ground floor studio/community room and first floor dance studio

East Anglian Daily Times: The gym at Kingfisher Leisure Centre will be extended and improved Picture: ARCHANTThe gym at Kingfisher Leisure Centre will be extended and improved Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

- Refurbished and extended 100 station first floor gym

- New ground floor changing facilities

- Fully refurbished poolside wet changing and toilet facilities

- Improved lighting and décor

East Anglian Daily Times: The poolside changing rooms and toilet facilities will be fully refurbished Picture: ARCHANTThe poolside changing rooms and toilet facilities will be fully refurbished Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

- New air handling systems and modern mechanical plant

Will the leisure centre be closed at any time during the works?

No. Abbeycroft Leisure, the management company which runs the centre, say it will remain open during the work, with a phased approach designed to cause minimum disruption to members.

Estimated dates for phase one: May 2019 to March 2020 - Construction of new community room and fitness studio

Estimated dates for phase two: December to February 2020 - Construction of first floor gym

Estimated dates for phase three: November to March 2020 - Completion of new changing rooms

'This is such an exciting project' - Reaction

Tracey Loynds, development director for Abbeycroft Leisure, said: "This is such an exciting project and we want our local community to benefit from it in lots of different ways. The new community room will be available for local community groups and organisations to hire, and we would like to start hearing from them now.

"Anyone who gets in contact with us will also be entered into a prize draw to win free use of the community room for three months (subject to conditions), so I would urge all local groups to email us now."

Chris Fry, assistant director for environment and commercial partnerships at Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils, said: "It's great to see work is officially underway at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre to provide the community of Sudbury with some much-needed and modernised leisure facilities.

"We want to ensure our residents are able to remain happy, healthy and active and we can't wait to see the new facilities once they're finished.

"This work is a positive step towards us investing in and improving our leisure facilities in the districts, to achieve the aims set out in our leisure, sport and physical activity strategy."

Duncan Clark, managing director of Beardwell Construction, said: "We are delighted to be involved in providing this wonderful facility to the local community in Sudbury and the wider Babergh district.

"It was important to us to provide a local team to manage the construction, with our site manager being a Sudbury resident and the company recently itself becoming a Babergh resident.

"The build is very difficult to construct in places requiring a high level of technical expertise from ourselves and our supply chain, we look forward to completing the challenge."

How can I enter the prize draw?

To enter the prize draw for free community room hire for three months, email jonathan.harvey@acleisure.com before June 30.