Members of Scottish Borders Council are set to endorse the deemed necessary closures of the Live Borders-run facilities when they meet on Wednesday, February 21.
The closures are needed to ensure electrical inspections/works are undertaken and it is proposed that, given buildings are closed, further survey and scoping work is undertaken, subject to available resources.
The facilities which will be affected in February and March are:
▪ Kelso Swimming Pool – 5-day partial closure (4th to 8th March),open late afternoon into evening.
▪ Gytes Leisure Centre (Peebles) – 5-day partial closure (19th to 23rdFebruary), open late afternoon into evening.
▪ Tweedbank Bowling Centre/Tweedbank Sports Centre – 2.5-daypartial closure for bowling centre, 2.5-day partial closure for sportscentre (week commencing 11th March). Both open late afternooninto evening.
▪ Teviotdale Leisure Centre (Hawick) – will be closed forapproximately one month (4th to 29th March) to allow essentialworks to be undertaken following a previous inspection undertakenin 2023.
Additionally, planned plant, mechanical and refurbishment works at Eyemouth Leisure Centre are currently being delivered with support from Scottish Borders Council.
This work commenced in November 2023 and was due to complete by February 2024, but has had to be extended due to a number of unforeseen issues within the building, resulting in an extended period of closure.
A report to SBC, approved by Jenni Craig, the council’s director of Resilient Communities, says: “A new interim chief executive of Live Borders was appointed at the beginning of 2024 and he has implemented a review of property compliance matters, including statutory electrical inspections.
“These can be complex pieces of work, especially in public buildings, and the decision has been taken to close these temporarily to allow the works to be executed safely and efficiently.
“The current works at Eyemouth were instructed jointly by SBC and Live Borders at relatively short notice in order to address the immediate technical issue related to the heating and ventilation system in the building, but without considering wider opportunities for the facility.
“It is proposed that the continued closure of the centre be used as an opportunity to undertake a scoping exercise to determine whether additional works could be undertaken within the building. This exercise would consider simple interventions through to full decarbonisation of the building.
“This piece of work will allow a greater understanding of the works that may be required in this specific building, but also offer an insight into the potential scale of the challenge – both physical and financial – across the wider SBC 65-building estate operated by Live Borders.”