A planning application has been submitted for a refurbishment project at the Hydro in Harrogate.

The project will see the leisure centre receive an extension and refurbishment of the swimming pools area and changing facilities, a new 400sqm fitness suite, improved reception and café and an overhaul of the existing gym and leisure facilities.

Outside, the building will be extensively remodelled to complement the surrounding environment. Along with a reconfigured car park, landscaping, bicycle storage and electric vehicle charging points.

The diving structure will also be carried out during the project so that it can continue to create and nurture future Olympians, such as Jack Laugher and Oliver Dingley.

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Simultaneously, the existing gas boilers will be replaced with heat pumps, along with the installation of solar panels as well as metering and energy monitoring and control systems.

The energy efficiency measures come following a successful £2.4million bid from the borough council through the government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) public sector decarbonisation scheme.

Councillor Stanley Lumley, Harrogate Borough Council's cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, and chair of the board of directors at Brimhams Active, said: "We have ambitious plans to reduce the proportion of the population that are physically inactive but we can't do this without investing in our facilities.

"This multi-million pound refurbishment project for the Hydro, and the investment in both Knaresborough and Ripon, will provide modern, fit-for-purpose facilities that creates opportunities for local people to move more, live well and feel great."