Plans for a new £20m leisure centre in Elephant and Castle, London, have been given the go-ahead by Southwark Council.

The new centre will replace an existing centre and will house the area's first swimming pool for more than15 years.

S&P Architects will be responsible for designing the centre, in partnership with John McAslan and Partners.

The leisure centre will form part of a regeneration programme being developed by 4 Futures, a partnership between Southwark Council and Balfour Beatty.

Demolition was set to begin on the existing building in October but archaeological discoveries were made delaying the project's end date by two months to Q3 2014.

Plans began for the centre after a public consultation in September 2010 produced a huge response from local residents and customers on the need for a revamp.

Leader of Southwark council Peter said: "Planning consent means that we're ready to take this to the next stage.

"The centre will provide first-class facilities for local people and will draw others to the area when it completes. We'll soon be able to see the physical signs of the new leisure centre taking shape on the ground; just another sign of the area's exciting and rapid transformation."