Abraham Moss Exterior 1

Laing O’Rourke lands £20m Crumpsall project

Manchester City Council has appointed the contractor to deliver the Abraham Moss Library and Leisure Centre, replacing older facilities.

The centre will include a sports hall, two squash courts, gym and dance studio, along with a modern library. The facility will also have a six-lane swimming pool, learner pool, steam room and sauna. It forms part of the Abraham Moss Community Campus.

Manchester announced its intention to replace the 1973-built 160,000 sq ft Abraham Moss centre in 2019, with Ellis Williams engaged as architect.

Laing O’Rourke has started on the structural demolition of the existing buildings on site. The demolition period follows a collaborative design period with Manchester City Council, during which the team drew upon its previous experience of delivering leisure and other facilities at Hough End, Levenshulme Arcadia and Beswick.

Crown House Technologies will provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) modules and plant equipment. These will be delivered to site on a ‘just in time’ schedule and installed to service the entire building.

Concrete specialist Expanded Geotechnical will construct the substructure, drainage and landscaping elements of the building. It will deliver the reinforced concrete pool structures and raft slabs that utilise the existing basement substructure.

Stone and tiling specialist Vetter UK will screed and tile the new pools, changing village and atrium areas.

Laing O’Rourke was selected as preferred contractor through the North West Construction Hub.

George Holgate, the firm’s project manager, said: “Our experience on leisure centres across Manchester was key to our appointment to bring the visions for the Abraham Moss library and leisure centre to life. It is great to be on site and it has been an exciting start.”

Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, executive member for neighbourhoods at MCC, said: “This is an exciting stage of the project, now that Laing O’Rourke has been appointed, and work is beginning to demolish the old facility to make way for the new build.

“Bringing new, improved leisure facilities to the community around Crumpsall is one step closer now that work is beginning on the new Abraham Moss Community Campus.”

The council last year admitted that the cost of the project had climbed due to Covid delays, with additional funding of £2.7m being allocated in September.

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