CUSTOMERS at a popular leisure centre have been warned to expect disruption when work starts on a £2.7 million refurbishment programme.

But bosses at the council-run Dolphin Centre, in Darlington, have assured the public that work will not start until after the summer holidays – one of the centre's busiest periods of the year.

An exact start date for the work has not yet been confirmed, but it will not be before the start of term in September.

The work – which will see the the replacement of 'back of house' systems, some of which date back to the 1980s – will necessitate the closure of the centre's main swimming pool for up to four months.

Members who pay a monthly fee of around £25 for leisure facilities – including swimming – will be offered a discount.

Meanwhile, access to the centre's training pool will be maintained to allow swimming lessons to continue for the duration of the improvements.

Centre bosses have carried out a major engagement exercise with users in the last couple of weeks, explaining plans to customers and giving warnings about the potential disruption.

Councillors approved proposals for the £2.7 million refurbishments back in April, after a report from officers warned that some of the Dolphin Centre's electrical and mechanical systems were at risk of 'catastrophic failure'.

Centre manager Mike Crawshaw, head of leisure for Darlington Borough Council, stressed: "The Dolphin Centre is open for business during the summer holidays."

From September, work will begin to replace ageing mechanical and electrical installations.

Mr Crawshaw added: "Everything that enables us to heat and cool the building is in its original state and it is worn out.

"We are at a point now, where we need to make a significant investment to enable the building to be in a fit state for the next 30-odd years.

"It will improve the customer experience significantly – for example, we will look at the humidity in the pool area and improve ventilation in the changing areas.

"It's a big undertaking, but the overriding benefit will be one that you can't see."

Mr Crawshaw said the importance of learn to swim provision for youngsters had led to the decision to prioritise the continuation of swimming lessons for primary school pupils during the work.

The main pool will be drained and scaffolded out during the work, but the smaller training pool will still be available.

Mr Crawshaw added: "More than 20 primary schools across Darlington have their swimming lessons with us.

"In total, we have more than 1,200 learner swimmers visiting regularly and the majority of them, if not all of them, will be able to continue swimming here during the period where the main pool is unavailable."

A second phase of work will follow in the new year, in which the training pool will close and the re-opened main pool will accommodate extra swimmers.

Mr Crawshaw added: "We looked at a number of options, including potentially closing all pools and doing the work in a shorter period of time, but we wanted to sustain our learn to swim provision."