It has cost around £8m and upon completion will have taken fifteen months to build.  The new Jubilee Sports Centre is the largest project undertaken by the university since the redevelopment of the Students’ Union, which included the construction of the now famous night-spot, The Cube.

As it is a project partially funded by student fees, Sport Scene felt it only right to bring you up to date on when the new facilities will be available and also let you know exactly what those facilities are going to include.

Project co-ordinator, John Bulford kindly agreed to take myself and Wessex Scene editor, Laura King, on a tour of the building.

Armed with our high visibility jackets and highly fashionable hard hats we headed to the site attempting to avoid the electrical wires, overhead scaffolding and uneven, temporary flooring.

Despite the fact that the building work is still ongoing, one thing became immediately apparent on entering the Sports Centre; when it’s finished it is going to look mighty impressive.

John first took us to have a look at the largest part of the new Centre: the sports hall.  The hall will accommodate 8 badminton courts and, with the walls painted grey to meet international badminton standards, the Centre hopes to play host to numerous high-ranking badminton tournaments in the future.

The hall also has the capacity to house an international basketball court and with at least 200 retractable seats being fitted, it really will be a spectacular sight. 

And if you’re worried about getting a bit cold in the sports hall during those dark winter months, don’t be.  Under-floor heating has been fitted to ensure the cold is not an issue.

As well as all the obvious sporting opportunities the sports hall has to offer, it will also serve educational purposes.  Due to its size, it has been decided that the hall will be used for exams for limited periods in January and June, making it by far the largest exam site at the University, holding at least 550 students.

The situation of the Sport Centre and in particular the sports hall was the source of great drama before construction got under way.  What was the problem? Badgers and newts....and I promise I’m not joking.

The back right hand side of the hall is situated 5 metres away from badger sets and as a result when work eventually got started around that area, a badger specialist had to be employed to ensure none of the animals came to any harm.

The newt situation had to be addressed as well.  Apparently, the area around the Jubilee Sports Centre is a hot bed of newt activity and as newts are a European Protected Species, the surrounding area had to dug out by hand and a 60 day tracking in search of the newts was carried out. 

The number of newts found was a resounding none but it is estimated the newt population around the Sports Centre is around five, so tread carefully! 

In total, the eight inch long creatures held the project up for an amazing nine months and cost them a great deal of money.

Following the tour of the hall, we headed to the pool area.  In place already is the 25 metre 6-lane swimming pool, which was fitted by a local father and son business.  Reportedly, the Director of Sport and Recreation, Dr Bill Harris, is keen to have a jacuzzi facility installed if there are sufficient funds, so keep your fingers crossed.

Another thing that is bound to please a number of students is the cutting edge ultra violet cleansing and filtration system used to keep the pool clean.  John Bulford reveals this system only requires ‘a minute percentage of chlorine’ and as a result students will be able swim in their gaps between lectures, safe in the knowledge that they won’t stink of chlorine when they leave the pool.

In the area adjoining the pool there will be a pool training room. This will provide an area for staff training as well as an area for specific clubs and societies to make use of, such as the canoe club who will use the pool for training purposes.

Our final stop of the tour was in the new fitness suite, situated on the upper floor of the Sports Centre, and it really does put the current gym to shame in terms of size.  Add to that almost wholly brand new equipment and you have a 140-station fitness suite capable of rivalling any big name health club.

Included in the fitness suite is a separate fitness testing room that will offer general fitness assessment as well as more sport specific training opportunities.

At current, the fitness suite is located on just one level of the Sports Centre.  However, an additional level has been built on the upper tier of the Centre and when more funds become available, the gym will spread to that extra level, almost doubling in size what is already an impressive fitness suite.

Once the general building work has been completed, Bill Harris desperately hopes to construct a route from the existing sports facilities to the new Sports Centre.  This will enable him to run the Department of Sport and Recreation exclusively from the new offices, which are an additional feature of the new Centre.

If you’ve paid the £45 for the SportRec membership, when the Jubilee Sports Centre is finally completed mid-January after fifteen months of hard graft, you’ll be able to make full use of the facilities. 

If what I’ve seen so far is anything to go by, you’ve got yourself an absolute bargain.

For further information on the Sports Centre visit the DSR website at:     www.soton.ac.uk/~sportrec/facilities.html

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