Work starts on £31.5m swimming pool complex in Dundee

Work has started on a new £31.5m swimming pool complex in Dundee.

The leisure facility will include an 50m competition pool, a wave pool, rapid river, dive pool, flumes and a fitness suite.

The Dundee City Council project, which has been backed by £3m of funding from sportscotland, will replace the city's Olympia Centre.

The new pool and a multi-storey car park are due to be completed in September 2012.

Minister for Sport Shona Robison said the complex would be a "superb addition" to leisure facilities in Dundee.

She said: "Swimming in Scotland has been a huge success in recent years and we want to ensure that our swimmers are best equipped to build on this success, particularly in the build-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

"This facility will not only increase participation, it will improve performance and deliver a lasting legacy from the 2014 Games."

'Vital role'

Mike Roberts, director of sports development for sportscotland, said the swimming pool would play a vital role in Dundee's drive towards urban and social regeneration.

He added: "By combining community use with training and competition facilities, this will create a fantastic environment for discovering and developing young swimmers and for inspiring others to follow in their footsteps."

The project follows a Scottish Swimming report in 2009 which found a need for more pools that were suitable for use as training centres for performance swimmers.