Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre Redevelopment

Open Meeting on Wednesday 4 February 2009

2009 is set to be an exciting year for leisure provision in the borough, with substantial plans being put forward for two leisure and library 'hubs' at Isleworth Recreation Centre and Feltham Airparcs together with proposals for refurbishing Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre and New Chiswick Pool.

As part of the council's overall commitment to improving faciities and services across the borough, Fusion Lifestyle, a registered charity, was appointed last year to provide community sport and active leisure services across the borough.

Leader of the council, Peter Thompson, said: “the idea of the combined leisure and library “hubs” is to pull together community facilities, and by adding shared café and social areas, create a variety of spaces where all members of the community can enjoy a variety of leisure activities. Our leisure centres have long been in need of redevelopment, which is why we made a commitment to invest an additional £2 million to improve the borough’s parks, libraries and leisure facilities.

“There’s a lot to be done, but these are very exciting projects, and we will be working closely with our leisure partners, Fusion Lifestyle, to deliver the high quality facilities Hounslow deserves".

Tim Mills, Fusion's director of business development commented: “the proposals are part of our long term commitment to improving the community’s experience at their local sport and fitness centres. We want to know what people think about the plans and ensure that there is plenty of opportunity for local residents to be involved in the process and feedback their thoughts before any final decisions are made”.

In preparing these design proposals, Fusion has talked with a local people including existing users and staff and will now undertake a comprehensive consultation process through January with a view to developing more detailed designs and finalising plans ready to start work on site in the early summer.

Tim Mills says they do not envisage significant disruption to existing services: “All being well, the new facilities should be available for use by Christmas 2009”.

Display boards outlining the plans will be at each of the centres from Monday 12 January to Friday 6 February 2009. A series of open meetings have been scheduled to present the proposals where public attendance and feedback is invited. Alternatively, suggestions and feedback can be submitted in advance at each of the centres or via email as shown below.

Open meetings
Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre 7pm on Wednesday 4 February 2009
Feedback suggestions to FLC@theclarksonalliance.com
Feltham Airparcs Leisure Centre 7pm on Tuesday 3 February 2009.
Feedback suggestions to FAPLC@theclarksonalliance.com
Isleworth Public Hall (South Street, Isleworth) 6pm on Tuesday 20 January 2009 and at 7pm on Thursday 5 February 2009
Feedback suggestions to IRC@theclarksonalliance.com
Chiswick Town Hall, (Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick), 6pm on Monday 19 January 2009 and at 7pm on Monday 2 February 2009

Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre
The proposals include a new design for the entrance and reception at Brentford Fountain, plus refurbishing the changing areas and toilet facilities. The existing fitness suite will also be remodelled and extended to create a state-of-the-art 100-workstation gym. The café will also be refreshed and a small café / juice bar created on the existing pool side terrace.

New Chiswick Pool
The old gym will become a crèche and café on the ground floor and a new enlarged reception and foyer will lead up to a new gym and studio on the first floor. The pool changing rooms will also be refurbished and enlarged.

Isleworth Hub
A new glazed entrance will be built at the front of Isleworth Recreation Centre to provide a link with the next door library building. It will also provide a covered entrance to Redlees Park and house a cafe / bar overlooking the park with an outside terrace area which can be used by visitors to the recreation centre, library or passers by. The link will also lead to a new creche adjacent to the existing children’s library which will create a large children’s area.
The existing swimming pool will have its original glazed facade reinstated, allowing natural light into the pool hall and provide swimmers and spectators with views into Redlees Park. There are also plans for a new water feature to be created in the existing tower, providing a unique and dramatic leisure facility for Isleworth.
Changing facilities will be reorganised and fully refurbished and a changing village will provide improved facilities for families and groups. A larger state of the art gym is proposed with new exercise studio.
The area of Redlees Park, adjacent to the recreation centre will be landscaped to provide an attractive area of park land leading from the café terrace, and plans include re-surfacing the existing multi use sports pitches.

January 26, 2009