Market Engagement/ Feedback - Aquadrome in Basingstoke and Deane

Award outcome

Description

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is considering the provision of a replacement health and leisure facility for the existing Aquadrome, located towards the west of the town centre on the Basingstoke Leisure Park. The Council is taking this opportunity to undertake soft market testing and obtain feedback and advice as to possibilities for delivery. The existing Aquadrome was originally constructed as a lido over 40 years ago and has been subject to extensions and refurbishments over the years to comprise a 25m swimming pool, learner pool, lagoon pool with flumes, health suite with sauna, steam and spa pool plus a 140 station gym and associated changing facilities. The facility is owned by the Council and managed by an external management company on behalf of the Basingstoke and Deane Leisure Community Trust (an independent charity) and the Council. The existing contract and lease expire in December 2025 and will need to be re-tendered. In February 2023, the Council adopted a new Leisure Park masterplan (https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/leisureparkproposal) with the ambition to create a real landmark leisure destination, minutes from the M3 motorway infrastructure. The masterplan is predicated upon the re-provision of the Aquadrome as an anchor health and leisure facility within the redeveloped and reinvigorated 25 hectare leisure park. While there is flexibility in the masterplan itself and may be subject to further review following a recent change in Council leadership, the objective to replace the Aquadrome remains a priority to the Council. The council has an ambition to replace the Aquadrome with a modern and energy efficient building, likely to be on an alternative and previously undeveloped or car park plot within the Leisure Park to ensure continuity of service (with the expectation that the new facility is to be operational before decommissioning the existing Aquadrome). As a minimum, the new health and leisure centre should provide a mix of facilities that will meet the requirements of the Council's emerging Leisure and Recreation Needs Assessment, summarised in the later part of this PIN. The main uses and activities to be considered, subject to a viable business case, are also summarised at the end of this PIN. The ambition is to deliver a destination leisure facility that will offer a mix of health and leisure activities to appeal to the broader range of residents within the borough and fun-seekers from further afield. Albeit the offer should provide sufficient flexibility to ensure its long-term management and operation is financially viable. In determining the mix of facilities, the council has received various suggestions for certain uses that exceed the usual mix of a borough-wide leisure centre and may typically be provided by specialist operators. As part of this market engagement, we would like to take the opportunity to utilise the skills and experience of the market and seek views on; i) whether there is an opportunity and support to include more specialist facilities in addition to the more traditional models or ii) whether operators would recommend such specialist facilities are left for specialist operators to deliver as a separate entity. For guidance only, this may include comprehensive climbing and bouldering, three tier soft play, and in-door skating/BMX course, but the council is keen to hear other suggestions where the market believes there are other alternatives that would be feasible and viable. The project is at concept stage and we are using the PIN to seek to assess the extent of interest from the private sector in working in partnership with the council to jointly shape and develop the project, including the technical specifications and technical capabilities to deliver the project. As part of the response to the PIN, we are interested in hearing responses to the questions provided in the long description. Responses should be sent to [email protected]

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