A NEW £9.23m swimming centre is taking shape in Blackbird Leys.

Work on the new pools started in July last year and is still on target to finish in December.

Yesterday the Oxford Mail was allowed to take pictures inside the Pegasus Road building for the first time since work began.

Pascal Roger, a site manager for construction firm Willmott Dixon, said: “The main pool is 80 per cent tiled now. It is just the floor to finish. We are due for completion in December and we are on target for that.”

The Oxford City Council pool is being built to replace Temple Cowley Pools and the existing Blackbird Leys Pool.

It will have an eight-lane, 25-metre pool, a teaching pool, soft play area and new changing facilities.

Steve Lee, spokesman for Fusion Lifestyle, which will manage the pools, said: “It will be a fantastic flagship facility for Oxford.”

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