Commonwealth Games aquatic centre costs soar

How the Aquatics Centre will look

Major construction on the aquatic centre to host events for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is to start in the New Year as final costings for the project were revealed.

The final budget for the Sandwell Aquatics Centre has now been confirmed at £73m up from an initial estimate of £60m.

Councillors are set to sign off funding and contract agreements at a meeting next week.

The final budget of the project reflects updated costs for groundworks, construction prices and contingencies built in by the council and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games budget.

The facility at Londonderry Lane in Smethwick will host the swimming and diving events at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Sandwell Council is contributing £27m with £38.5m coming from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games budget. A further £7.6m is funded by other external partners Sport England, Black Country LEP, Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) and University of Wolverhampton.

When complete, the centre will have a 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool, a 25m diving pool and a studio pool along with 1,000 permanent spectator seats.

Additional seating will be added on a temporary basis for the Games.

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