Two new leisure centres are opening to the public of Belfast this week.

Brook Leisure Centre in Twinbrook, west Belfast and Lisnasharragh in east Belfast have brought a host of brand new sporting facilities to the city, including the biggest swimming pool in Belfast at the site of the former Robinson Centre that opened on Monday.

The Brook, which will open on Thursday 04 December, also boasts the largest sensory pool in Northern Ireland.

The facilities come as part of Belfast City Council's £105 million investment in its leisure facilities. Social enterprise GLL, which operates under the Better name, will run the centres.

Following its grand opening on Monday, Lisnasharragh has become the leading aquatic centre for Belfast, featuring the city's biggest swimming pool with eight lanes, state of the art timing devices for gala swimming, as well as a diving pool and Tom Daley Diving Academy.

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The Brook will focus on outdoor games with a new 3G pitch for Gaelic and soccer, three covered and three uncovered 3G five-a-side pitches, and a hurling wall. It will also introduce swimming facilities to the Colin area for the first time, including a sensory-enabled pool that will be the largest of its kind in a public leisure facility in the UK.

Both leisure centres will be equipped with multi-purpose health and fitness studios, fully equipped gyms, sports halls, and community facilities. Membership gives people citywide access, enabling them to use all 15 of the public leisure centres in Belfast. Under-5s can also swim for free at any of the city's nine swimming pools.

Nigel Grimshaw, Strategic Director of City & Neighbourhood Services at Belfast City Council said the centres should give everyone access to affordable leisure facilities to improve their physical and mental health.

He said: "With this investment we are bringing world-class facilities to Belfast. There is no comparable size of investment in publicly owned leisure facilities anywhere else in the UK, so it is a real statement of intent by the council and demonstrates our commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of our citizens."

Meanwhile, Gareth Kirk, Regional Director of GLL in Northern Ireland added: "Our centres are also aimed at people of all backgrounds and abilities. Our Healthwise programme helps people with a range of conditions to get back to physical exercise, whilst our partnership with organisations like MacMillan Cancer supports people living and surviving cancer to grow stronger through physical activity."

The new facilities have allowed GLL to welcome over 75 new staff from local communities into roles at Brook and Lisnasharragh.

(JG/CM)