The centre will benefit from a 25m swimming pool, a 20m learner pool, a pool pod to improve accessibility, a combined lobby area with pool viewing and café, a wet village change, an inclusive changing places toilet and a health and wellbeing spa facility.

There will also be a wellness assessment room, an enlarged fitness suite, fitness changing and dry change areas, two flexible studio spaces, an immersive indoor cycle studio, a four-court sports hall and storage, a gymnastics hub and staff rooms and offices. The new-look facility will help Trafford Leisure achieve its vision of becoming the most active place in England.

The new mix of facilities has been developed with support from Sport England to deliver long-term sustainable leisure provision that gives the best health and wellbeing outcomes for local residents. The refurbishment follows the successful redevelopment of move Urmston in March 2020 and will see further refurbishments carried out on a phased arrangement at both Stretford and Sale Leisure Centres.

The investment supports Trafford Council’s strategy and commitment to get more people moving more often, helping improve health and wellbeing, and is part of its Physical Activity Strategy, ‘Trafford Moving.’ It also supports the Council’s corporate priority to reduce health inequalities across the borough.

move Altrincham will include the replacement of the fossil fuel (gas) heating system with Air Sourced Heat Pumps and Solar Panels, which are significantly more sustainable options than the existing systems and support Trafford Council’s action plan to be Carbon Neutral by 2038.

“This is not just a lick of paint – we will be totally transforming this centre like we did at move Urmston and the results will be just as impressive. We are investing millions of pounds into this project as we believe that is the right thing to do to ensure residents are given top-class facilities to help them improve their health, fitness and wellbeing,” says Cllr Jo Harding, Trafford Council’s executive member for culture, leisure and strategic partnerships.