£130m of sports and library PFI credits awarded

Six library and sports centre PFI projects have been granted £130m of credits from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The six projects are:

• Bristol City Council: £29.7m for multi-sports facilities as part of the South Bristol Healthplex project, to be located at Hengrove Park and linked to the development of community hospital facilities and the regeneration of South Bristol. The sports facilities will include: 50m pool; an eight-court sports hall; health & fitness facility; four squash courts; indoor bowls rink; and two multi-use games units.
  
• Leeds City Council: £30m for the strategic replacement of existing wet and dry sports facilities with a network of new multi-sport facilities across the Leeds metropolitan area. The scope of the new facilities varies from site to site but all will include swimming pools and fitness suites. This project will be part of an ongoing redevelopment of sports facilities across the city.
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• Liverpool City Council: £13.7m of additional credits for the renewal of Liverpool's Central Library and Archive. This, taken together with credits already awarded, brings the total allocation to £47.9m. The central library is a Grade II listed building, which forms part of a World Heritage Site. The redevelopment of this building will be a key element in the transformation of Liverpool's cultural quarter and will enable the city council to improve access and services to the public.
  
• Newcastle upon Tyne City Council: £13.2m of additional credits for the new city library, a flagship project to replace the existing central library. This will bring the total number of credits awarded to Newcastle to £40.2m. The new city library will improve access to all services and provide a range of community facilities. The project will also incorporate an archive service with improved storage, access and research facilities.
  
• Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council: £6.8m of credits within a package of £64.6m for a multi-service centre including a range of services including sport and library provision. The centre will be on the site of the current Town Hall. The library element is a replacement to the existing central library for Wigan and will provide greatly enhanced access to services. The 25m-pool is a replacement for the existing Wigan International Pool.
  
• Worcestershire County Council: £33.4m for a partnership development to create a fully integrated public and university library developed jointly by the council and University College Worcester on a site between the new campus and the city centre. It includes county archives and record office history centre, county archaeology service and multi-agency customer service centre with meeting, exhibition and event areas.