THE Life Centre in Central Park was a hive of activity yesterday as 180 construction workers raced to finish the £46million building.

Since the autumn it has been transformed from a building site to an almost-finished sports and leisure centre.

A team of divers was completing the underwater work on the main pool's rising floor and moveable booms. The floor of the diving pool has already been installed and was being lowered as The Herald and Plymouth City Council leader Vivien Pengelly were given a tour yesterday.

Brian Hazelton of specialist firm Dive Gym Equipment was putting the finishing touches to the high-tech dry training area for divers.

"I have designed and installed all the high-tech diving centres in the country, and this is the best," Mr Hazelton said.

He has worked with Tom Daley's coach Andy Banks to tailor the room, which has the latest training equipment plus video cameras to help divers to analyse their training.

In the run-up to the London Olympics the Canadian diving team will train in Plymouth, along with athletes from Lithuania, Ukraine and Ghana.

The climbing zone is structurally complete, and specialists will arrive soon to lay flooring and finish the walls.

Mrs Pengelly, who launched her political career 20 years ago with a campaign for a 50-metre pool, said yesterday: "I am really emotional.

"I never imagined it would look like this. It's out of this world.

"All Plymothians can be proud of the Life Centre. We can bring the whole world here and be proud of our city."

John Bunker, regional construction director for Balfour Beatty, who is also a Plymothian, said: "It makes me immensely proud to be involved in this project. The Life Centre is jam-packed with world-class facilities."

The vast main sports hall is nearing completion, with a state-of-the-art sprung floor. City council project director Tony Hopwood said the floor – probably the best you can buy – was designed to be easily renovated over its lifetime.

The hall will cater for sports ranging from five-a-side football and netball to indoor cricket nets.

Below it is an international-standard eight-rink bowls centre, which is waiting only for its carpet and electronic scoreboard. "The bowls community is very excited," Mr Bunker said.

At the top level of the Life Centre is a 150-station fitness suite, which will include a children's gym. LCD screens on the walls will provide entertainment while you train, and some of the machines will be connected to the internet.

Mr Bunker said that by this week construction workers had put in a total of 1,020,000 man-hours on-site with four times that going into off-site fabrication work.

He said 80 per cent of construction staff lived within 40 miles of Plymouth.

"The council's decision to push ahead with this has been a lifesaver for the local construction industry."

Mr Bunker will hand over to the operators, Sports and Leisure Management Limited, on February 27. It will be run under their operational brand Everyone Active.

The doors are expected to open to the public over the weekend of March 23 to 25 following a period of internal fit-out and staff training.

Balfour Beatty will be involved for another six months as they demolish the Mayflower Centre and old pool in the park, and landscape the site.

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