Midlands & East Anglia

A project to ‘benefit every resident of Sprowston’

With work progressing well on site, Sprowston Town Council’s vision to provide a much-needed multi-use community facility in Sprowston is coming ever closer to fruition.

Local construction company, Pentaco Construction started work on a new extension to the Sprowston Diamond Centre in School Lane, Sprowston in March. Financing for the extension on the east wing has been helped by substantial funding from the Norfolk County Council Community Construction Fund.

Norfolk County Council invited community-led organisations to apply for a share of £3.5m available for projects which required new construction work and could make a real difference to local life last September.

After submitting a successful business plan which outlined Sprowston Town Council’s proposals for the re-development of the Diamond Centre and how it would benefit the community and provide an opportunity to enhance Sprowston’s social infrastructure, £100,000 was awarded.

The design is a mixture of the old and new. Key features of the old building are retained with some parts of the building being demolished.

A section of the centre will house a large multiuse function room which can be used for gatherings, weddings, parties and conferences, badminton and other sports can also be catered for. Throughout the building there will be a large variety of rooms of varying sizes for clubs, pilates, a computer suite and a nursery.

The re-development will be completed in three phases. Phase 1, which is currently underway, includes an extension to the east wing to provide a new nursery, rooms which will be available for some public hiring, new entrance link, toilet accommodation and refurbishment multi-use room.

Speaking at the turf cutting ceremony of in March, John Ward County Councillor for Sprowston said: “I am delighted to support the Town Council in its successful bid for £100,000 from the Norfolk County Council Community Construction Fund. This project, which creates such excellent community facilities, will benefit every resident of Sprowston.”

Adrian Hubbard, commercial director of Pentaco Construction added: “Our construction team is looking forward to building the first phase of this very important project for Sprowston. We will be making the most of sustainable methods of construction to ensure a flexible and energy-efficient new building space that is cost-effective to run and delivers long-term value to the community.”

Phase 2 mainly comprises rearrangement of the internal spaces of the western end of the building to create larger rooms. Phase 3 will involve the demolition of the existing link between Phases 1 and 2 and the construction of a main hall and ancillary spaces including kitchen, foyer, office and store facilities.

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