Moorways Sports Village is ready to unlock a great leisure experience
Published: 16 May 2022
Cllr Chris Poulter (right) hands over the key to Simon Morgan from Everyone Active
The final stage of the handover of Moorways Sports Village is complete, with Derby City Council formally handing over the keys today to its leisure operating partner, Everyone Active.
This week the £42 million centre will start welcoming pre-invited schools, community groups and swimming clubs to try out the 50m swimming pool and selected other activities, ready for its official opening on Saturday 21 May.
Councillor Chris Poulter, Leader of Derby City Council, said:
I would like to thank everyone involved in enabling the fantastic new Moorways Sports Village to be opening this week as planned. It’s all systems go, and I can’t wait to see the centre full of people enjoying the fantastic facilities of one of the finest leisure venues in the country.
Along with award winning Derby Arena and Springwood Leisure Centre, Moorways Sports Village will help improve the wellbeing of the city’s population for years to come as well as making Derby a more attractive place to live, work, visit and invest.
Simon Morgan, Everyone Active’s Contract Manager, said:
We are in the final stages of preparation ahead of the opening of this state-of-the-art centre and excitement is really building now.
The community is going to love this facility, where there is an activity for everyone, no matter what your age, interests or ability.
We cannot wait to welcome the public here on Saturday for what will be a landmark day in the city’s calendar.
A formal ribbon cutting ceremony at 9.15am will mark the opening of the centre on Saturday 21 May, where members of the public will be able to join in free and paid-for activities with Olympic swimming legend Mark Foster, double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ross Davenport, and Perri Shakes-Drayton, the second-fastest Briton of all time in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Derby heptathlete Niamh Emerson, who won bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is also part of the line-up, as is football freestyler and two-times Guinness World Record holder Jamie Knight, Derby County FC Women’s player of the year Sarah Jackson and manager Sam Griffiths.
The public will be able to try out the flumes and water slides in the thrilling Water Park, splash out in the 50m pool, and enjoy all the centre’s brand-new facilities like the children’s soft play areas for the very first time. There will also be group exercise classes, martial arts taster sessions, football skills sessions and face painting, with the celebrities joining in all the fun.
Construction partner Bowmer + Kirkland worked with Derby City Council to ensure the £42 million complex was delivered on time and on budget.
The Council has appointed Everyone Active, a leading UK leisure operator, as its partner to manage the new iconic facility and the adjacent Moorways Stadium, with its outdoor athletics track and field facilities, and football pitches. Both sites remain in the Council’s ownership.
The new swimming facilities at Moorways Sports Village have been welcomed by the next generation of Derby’s elite swimmers. Babs Ingram, President of the Derbyshire Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) and Chair of Deventio Excel, the elite performance pathway for Derbyshire swimming, said:
We can’t wait to start training at Moorways Sports Village, and for it to be our home for many years to come.
It will be one of the best, if not the best, swimming pools in the country, and will serve Derby and Derbyshire for years, indeed generations.
I am also convinced that Derby will benefit financially from having such an outstanding facility, by attracting visitors to the pool and its leisure facilities. Clubs like mine host Open meets at Ponds Forge in Sheffield – each is attended by hundreds of swimmers, staying in the local hotels, parking in the car parks, eating out at the restaurants during the meets. If we can start holding them at Moorways, I would expect the Derby economy to be boosted in a similar way.