A new £9.4m leisure facility has been unveiled in Newark, replacing the ageing Grove Leisure Centre which was built in 1968.

Newark and Sherwood District Council funded the project, which saw contractor R. G. Carter working to Watson Batty-designed plans to create Newark Sports and Fitness Centre.

The 4,260sq m (45,854sq ft) two-storey building includes a four-court sports hall, a 25m (82ft) swimming pool and a 20m (66ft) teaching pool, as well as squash courts and an 850sq m (9,149sq ft) fitness suite supplied by Life Fitness.

FT Leisure provided the water treatment and filtration systems, as well as 2 Poolpod access systems. Poolpod is a swimming pool lift which assists swimmer who finds using pool access difficult – such as wheelchair users and people with mobility impairments.

The new site is being operated by Newark and Sherwood District Council’s new leisure trust Active4Today, which the executive approved creation of in January 2015. Southwell Leisure Centre, the Dukeries in Ollerton and the Blidworth Community Leisure Centre are also being run by the not-for-profit company, which has a specific focus on leisure, sport, health and wellbeing.