Page 24 - link magazine

Premier lei
24
Line Dance The Link Centre, Swindon's most exciting commitment to sport, recreation and comm
with
Without doubt the Link Centre proposal for a grandiose building tremendous pressure to build e
Midnight Cowboys was ahead of its time, but then when the promised permanent quickly as possible and we used
Thamesdown Council. as Swindon community centres were nowhere number of innovative building tech
Monday: Rodbourne Cheney, 7.30
Rodbourne Cheney Club, Moredon Road was then known, was in front of to be seen. niques. With inflation running at 1
(near Rodbourne Arms) other local authorities in terms of Community buildings were to 20 per cent - unheard of today
Tuesday: Even Swindon, 7.00 recreation, arts, culture and com- quickly added to the package of the budgetwould havedisappeare
Community Centre Jennings Street munity development. facilities to be developed. Toothill very quickly. Consequently we wet
(off Rodbourne Road)
The West Swindon District Cen- and Freshbrook community cen- for a very fast design and constru(
Wednesday: Highworth, 7.00
tre had been zoned for commercial tres at their respective village cen- ti on scheme; designing the detail
Thursday: Coleview 7.00
Community Centre, Nythe Road and recreation purposes in the tres opened in September 1984 whilst the building was going ut
Step by step instruction for master plan for the western devel- and the converted and extended which is why the Link is the shap
absolute beginners. Weekend opment of the town which had com- Upper Shaw Farm. to serve and form it is.
socials in Highworth and Swindon menced in 1974 when the first in- Westlea and Shaw, opened in "We had an international team c
For more details frastructure was built. March 1985. consultants involved in different at
Ring Lewis Watson on 764732 When the shopping centre site
Ten years of teaching! jointly owned by the council and
private developers Bradleys, was
bought by Carrefour, councillors
were already committed to spend-
Over 2,500 sq. ft. of ing the council's share of the in-
products for the Artist, come on a major recreation and
community facility on a large sec-
Crafter and Student
tion of the district centre site.
D.M.C. Main Agency Inspirational for putting ideas in
Daylight Lamps Stockist front of councillors were the Direc-
Picture Framing tor of Arts & Recreation Denys
DIY Framing Supplies Hodson and Recreation Officer
Graham Swatton. Stitching to-
Well worth a visit. Try us! gether the land deals across West
Framework Art & Craft Swindon was the council's Project
Development Officer Ken Hislop
63 Pembroke Centre
Cheney Manor Trading Estate who was told bluntly at local con-
Swindon SN2 2PQ sultation meetings in 1983 by peo- But the big excitement was the pects of the project, built by Bovi:
Tel/Fax: (01793) 513069 ple who had moved into West Swin- opening of the Link Centre at the Construction, with the borough ar
Phone for directions. Parking. don in the previous seven years end of April 1985 with an evening chitects department undertakin(
that they were not happy with the at the ice rink for the people of the co-ordination and design. Th(
West Swindon. roof was erected first, held up b'
The second stage of the huge four central pillars and support;
project - the library, community around the perimeter so that therf
suite, arts/drama studios, swim- was dry environment to build, at
ming pool,snooker hall, health and well as creating very large space:
fitness suite and sports hall - were for the final use.
opened in May and June. Nigel recalls a major problem it
JI
The name for the leisure centre the very early stages of construc
came from a competition. Ostensi- ti on when a known geological arte
bly open and transparent, in fact Sian well under the site turned ou
i i 1 ,
Turn your home 1 we at the magazine were asked to to be a lot bigger than expected
submit a suggestion that the build-
into a haven ing be called Link Centre to reflect
with Miella... all the different features to be found
there. Confusion as to who had the
name first has reigned ever since.
Nigel Honer, the council's as-
sistant chief architect in charge of
rIrcnen, ueuroorn the project, said the building of the
i s bathroom showroo Link broke new ground in all direc-
_ .. NOW OPE ti ons.
--- - in Swindc Now principal at his Bristol based
Nom" Bruges Tozer Partnership practice,
he recalls that the decision to in-
corporate so many different uses
under one roof was a huge commit-
ment by the council. "There was a

Miella Kitchens.
& Bathrooms
1 7 High Street, Old Town
• Swindon SN 1 2EG
01793 644600
www.miellakbb.corn