David Godbold, Barbara Smailes, Alison Kitching and manager Brian Pyle outside of the newly refurbished Birtley Leisure Centre.
A £1.5m redevelopment bringing new fitness equipment, brand new luxury changing rooms and saunas to Birtley Leisure Centre has been completed.
Anyone walking through the doors at Birtley Leisure Centre, owned and managed by Gateshead Council, today will do so into a new entrance and reception area, which leads on to a brand new fitness gym plus luxury changing rooms that now include sauna cabins. The £1.5m redevelopment means top quality facilities are now on offer to Birtley residents including a gym four times bigger than previously on offer.
Birtley Leisure Centre’s transformation has been carried out in conjunction with Gateshead Council’s private sector partner Competition Line (UK) Ltd, which have a network of 38 Lifestyle Fitness clubs around the country.
Birtley Leisure Centre is situated alongside Durham Road, the original A1 Great North Road, which was diverted away from Birtley in the 1930s. It offers easy access by public transport and by car; the redevelopment includes improvements to the car park.
Gateshead Council head of sport and leisure, Louise Rule said: “This investment has really transformed Birtley Leisure Centre. The new fitness club and changing facilities are really impressive and will provide first class facilities to people from the Birtley area.
“Gateshead Council has a long term commitment to making Gateshead a healthier place and we recognise that to do so we need to provide first class facilities. This investment brings accessible, quality facilities to encourage more residents to invest in their health.”
Freshly installed at the vastly improved fitness club are 85 new items of Life Fitness equipment including free weights, state of the art treadmills and cycles.
Gordon Hall, managing director of Competition Line (UK) Ltd said: “Lifestyle Fitness offers an environment to stimulate both body and mind. Stylish surroundings house the best in cardio and resistance equipment with instructors on hand to help members achieve fitness goals.”
In addition to this investment at Birtley Leisure Centre, Gateshead Council is investing £25m in its ‘Building an Active Future’ programme which will provide new accessible leisure facilities including brand new swimming pools at Blaydon and Felling, refurbishment of Gateshead Leisure Centre, Dunston & Birtley Swimming Pools.