Work to move more than 35,000 tonnes of excavated material to make way for Plymouth's new £46.5 million Life Centre is getting under way.

Contractor Balfour Beatty has started to transport the soil from the front of the Mayflower Leisure Centre to a temporary spoil heap south of Cottage Field, following the approval of a planning application last week. The spoil will be stored and used again at the end of the project for landscaping.

Temporary access roads, diversionary foot paths and pedestrian crossing points have been installed around Central Park to enable lorries to move the excavated material safely away from the public. All lorry movements are completely segregated from people using Central Park with a traffic light and marshal system in place near the Argyle ground.


Plans outlining the diversions and routes are on display on hoardings and fencing around Central Park, as well as in the foyer of the Mayflower Centre and swimming pools.

Movement of the excavated material is expected to take approximately two months to complete with the diversions in place for the same length of time. Due to the recent good weather, excavation is now progressing well and piling work is also under way.

Neil Sherreard, Balfour Beatty Divisional Managing Director said: "Although major earthworks are well underway and around 35,000 tonnes of spoil is being removed to make way for the new facility, we are ever mindful of the environmental impact of our work. We are pleased that no excavated material will go off-site but is being used for landscaping at the end of the project."

Once completed next year the Life Centre's facilities will include a family leisure pool, 50 metre swimming pool with moveable floors and submersible booms, a diving pool, climbing zone, eight lanes bowls centre and a 12 court multi-use sports hall.

(CD/GK)