A new multi-million pound sports facility - Surrey Sports Park - has opened its doors at the University of Surrey, Guildford, after nearly two years in development.

Facilities include an eight-lane, 50m swimming pool - the first of its kind in the county, which boasts a moveable boom to create two smaller 25m pools and a moveable floor. A 700sq m (7,535sq ft) health and fitness centre, equipped with 120 stations of Life Fitness machines and free weights; three multi-purpose sports halls; six squash courts and a climbing wall are also on offer, as well as three exercise/dance studios.

Outdoor facilities comprise three floodlit artificial turf pitches; ten football/rugby pitches; two-small sided sports pitches; two cricket squares and eight floodlit tennis courts, as well as a two-lane, 60m sprint track. Surrey Sports Park will be available to students and the local community, while also providing a training base for a number of elite sports clubs - including Harlequins rugby team.

Jason Harborow, chief executive of Surrey Sports Park, said: "The sports park isn't just about top class athletes however; this is a facility for the entire local community. "We have expanded on what was already a broad programme of dance and exercise classes that we ran in the original university facilities and are confident that the programmes will achieve even greater interest."

For more on the new Surrey Sports Park, see Sports Management Q1 2010, p. 29