North Down Borough Council has awarded Farrans Construction Limited the contract to build Northern Ireland’s first 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool.  The pool will be built as part of a new state-of-the-art leisure complex at Valentine Playing Fields in Bangor. 

 The project represents an investment of £38M, including up to £15M investment from the Northern Ireland Executive.  It is anticipated that employment opportunities for around 200 tradesmen will be created during the course of the build. 

 Construction is due to start on site before the end of August 2010 and the facility will be open by late summer 2012.

 Commenting on the award, Mayor of North Down Councillor John Montgomery said:  “Council is delighted that the contract for the pool and leisure centre has now been awarded and we look forward to work starting on the site in the next week to ten days.  This facility will be a tremendous local legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and deliver long-term economic and sporting benefits to the people of North Down and the wider Northern Ireland community.  I would like to offer my congratulations to Farrans and we look forward to working with the company over the next two years as we see this very exciting project progress.”   

Sports Minister Nelson McCausland said:  “This will be Northern Ireland’s first Olympic sized swimming pool. As a regional centre of excellence, it will be a state-of-the-art facility to be enjoyed by all the people of Northern Ireland.  Also, the commencement of this project will be a major boost to our local construction industry. I wish the contractors well as they start to construct what I am sure will be an iconic sporting facility for Northern Ireland.”

Chief Executive of Sport Northern Ireland, Eamonn McCartan commented: "Sport Northern Ireland is extremely pleased to see the imminent commencement of this project.  As the lead agency for the development of sport in Northern Ireland, we are excited about supporting the creation of sports facilities such as these which will both drive up participation and develop high performance in sport."

Eamonn Sweeney, Managing Director of Farrans added:  “Farrans are delighted to have been awarded this prestigious project and look forward to working with the various stakeholders over the next two years.  We anticipate the project will protect the employment of some 20 existing staff as well as creating employment for some 200 tradesmen through the supply chain during construction.  The vast majority of these employees will come from within Northern Ireland”. 

25/8/10

North Down Council official press release