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investing in the future of manchester aquatics centre
Manchester council is planning to spend £31m on repairing and refurbishing the city’s Aquatics Centre in order to save it from closure. The flagship facility, known as MAC, opened in 2000 and played a major part in Manchester’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games two years later. But after decades of intensive use, parts of the building are approaching ‘end of life’ and need major investment to protect its long-term future.
More than 10 million people - around 500,000 a year - have flocked to the swimming centre since it opened on Oxford Road, making it one of the busiest in the UK.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic MAC was generating £4m a year for Manchester’s economy, while also meeting the equivalent demands of six community swimming pools.
Councillor Luthfur Rahman, executive member for culture and leisure, said: “This flagship facility is somewhere that everyone from beginners and school classes to Olympians and Paralympians can benefit from. Leisure has a crucial role to play in Manchester’s recovery from the social, health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. It would be unthinkable to allow this key element of the city’s overall swimming provision, which also contributes to our global sporting reputation, to wither and die."