Manchester’s top basketball team the Giants will be getting a new home as major refurbishment of Urmston Leisure Centre to get underway at the George H Carnall in Davyhulme

Development of a £6.4 million leisure centre for Urmston will start imminently, following the appointment of construction experts Willmott Dixon to deliver the Council’s state-of-the-art project.

Work will shortly begin on site with completion of the new centre scheduled for December 2018.  Once finished, residents will benefit from modern sporting facilities including a  swimming pool, large fitness suite, three studios, improved viewing balcony and striking reception area that will form the ‘heart’ of the building.

In addition, clip and play and other new family friendly activities will be introduced. Urmston forms part of the Council’s multi-million ambitious leisure strategy, which will also now see George H Carnall transformed into a sport, health and wellbeing hub alongside becoming the new home of Manchester Giants.

The Giants will make George H Carnall their new home, while part of the centre will be refurbished to offer sporting facilities and accessible space for community groups. A new health hub will be created, linked to a step up-step down type facility and the Council is working with local partners to bring forward more detailed health related proposals in the coming weeks.

The redeveloped site will also include new affordable residential accommodation specifically for people who work in key public services, such as nurses, teachers and police officers.  It is anticipated that up to 60 homes will be provided.

As part of the overall development of the site, a new green gym will be provided on the green space surrounding the centre offering additional opportunities to participate in physical activity which will help to improve the general wellbeing of the local population.

The Giants, the only professional basketball team in the North West, join an impressive group of sporting excellence who already play or train in the borough: Manchester United, Lancashire County Cricket Club and Sale Sharks; and with Salford City FC set to also build new training facilities at Turn Moss as part of the Refreshed Stretford Masterplan.

Already working with schools across Greater Manchester, the Giants will also link with local people offering health and wellbeing programmes. Their community team will be out and about in Trafford on a daily basis raising awareness, not just of basketball, but health and wellbeing generally, especially to our young people.

This exciting proposal responds to the aspirations of residents to retain the space for community use and will further enhance Davyhulme as a key location within the borough for sport, health and wellbeing.

These proposals support and align the with the Council’s Vision 2031 to make Trafford a national beacon of sport and physical activity accessible to all.

The proposals for George H Carnall require further development and will be subject to planning and consultation.  A commitment has been made to operate George H Carnall in its present form until such that that the development commences.

Leader of the Council, Sean Anstee, said: “I am really pleased that residents in Urmston, Davyhulme and Flixton are the first to benefit from the Council’s significant investment in sport and leisure with the appointment of Willmott Dixon to commence construction at Urmston Leisure Centre.

In addition, at George H Carnall we have worked really hard with key partners to come up with an innovative and exciting opportunity that will complement the refurbished Urmston Leisure Centre.

We’re absolutely delighted therefore to be able to announce that the Manchester Giants, the North West’s only basketball team, will be making this site their home, and bringing with them their great track record of engaging with schools and the wider community alongside affordable residential homes and health hub.

Taken together, these two opportunities represent an investment in excess of £45m in the local M41 community.  This is a great example of public sector funding attracting significant private sector investment.

We believe both developments will provide a great mix of facilities to help improve health and wellbeing among our residents.”

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