New scheme considers £33m home and leisure centre rebuild

High-rise apartments could be built next to Gurnell Leisure Centre to help fund a new 'state-of-the-art' building.

Architects 3DReid, acting for the council, say the Ruislip Road East site built in 1981 is outdated and in need of extensive refurbishment. They claim the building and its environment are no longer fit for purpose and require significant investment.

Proposals under discussion are for a brand new leisure centre with a top class 50m swimming pool - to rival Stratford - a new sports hall and gym. The £33m redevelopment would be paid for by building the high-rise properties around the centre.

Building up would mean the new centre and homes could take up less space than the centre they replace, meaning there would be no loss of green space.

The homes could be built by Broadway Living development, Ealing Council's wholly owned property company. This could provide income for the council and money for future investment.

Labour’s cabinet member for libraries, leisure and customer services Cllr Patricia Walker said

“These are exciting plans which will see a state of the art new leisure facility for the borough. This is an ambitious project which will transform the current centre, provide new homes and open up green space. This is the kind of ambitious project that Labour is delivering for Ealing.

Ealing's cabinet has agreed that officers should start preliminary work on possible options and report back in the autumn when decisions will be made.

30th March 2015