The University of Birmingham announced today that it has appointed international support services and construction group Interserve as contractor for its new new £55m sports centre, and that work on the facility will commence in April.

The centre, designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands with S&P Architects as specialist pool consultants, will be open to students, staff and the wider community and features an arena sports hall with seating for up to 900 spectators, six squash courts, six activity rooms, a 225 station gym and various other facilities.

Director of Sport Zena Wooldridge said: “Birmingham is a city with a proud sporting heritage and sport plays a huge part in the life of our campus. The new Sports Centre will provide fitting facilities for the a top-three ranked sporting University.”

The project is being supported by Sport England who are set to contribute £2m of National Lottery investment into the new centre through the Olympic legacy fund Iconic Facilities.