New state-of-the-art changing pavilion officially opens at Barn Elms

The new pavilion has been handed over to Wandsworth Council by Tideway, the company building London’s new super sewer, and is a modern replacement for the previous changing facilities - offering visitors bigger and better gym space plus a new café.

Part of the site at Barn Elms is being used for construction of the 25km tunnel, which will help tackle sewage overflowing into the River Thames. The new changing rooms are part of Tideway’s commitment to work closely with the local communities near its sites.

A formal opening ceremony was held on Saturday to mark the completion of the works and to declare the facility officially open to the public.

Barn Elms covers some 52 acres and offers residents, youth groups, clubs and local schools the opportunity to take part in a huge range of sports and leisure activities.

It offers grass pitches for rugby, football, cricket, Aussie rules and rounders as well as 16 tennis courts along with specialist facilities for archery, athletics, field events, a gym and boathouse for rowing. It also has artificial surfaces for netball and hockey.

And after the London Olympics, and as part of the 2012 Games legacy, 1,000 tonnes of sand was transported from the beach volleyball venue in Horseguards Parade to Barn Elms so that the sport would have a permanent home in the capital.

The council's spokesman on sport and leisure Cllr Steffi Sutters said: "Barn Elms is a superb sports venue with really excellent facilities. I’m delighted that this new state-of-the-art changing room complex, with its excellent new fully equipped gym and café, has now been formally opened to the public.

"Offering first class facilities can only help to encourage more people, especially younger people, to get involved in sports and hopefully spur them on to become the sports and Olympic stars of the future.”

Bhavini Vyas, Project Manager at Tideway’s Barn Elms site, said: ‘It’s wonderful to be able to hand these changing rooms to the local community. Local children and the people of Wandsworth will benefit from the new structure for many years to come.

“We’ve worked closely with the sports centre, Wandsworth Borough Council and the local community to get to where we are today, and I’d like to thank everyone who collaborated on this project.

“Creating these new changing rooms was a key part of Tideway’s work to prevent sewage pollution in the River Thames.”

For more information about this flagship sports venue, visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/barnelms.

To find out more about all the other sports, leisure and fitness centres in the borough visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/sport.