The ice rink at Swindon’s Link Leisure Centre re-opens on Monday 4 September 2023.
This follows a 16-week closure that allowed for a series of energy efficiency works, costing over £300,000, to take place.
The project was designed to safeguard the future of the ice rink by upgrading plant and machinery, leading to reduced energy consumption and improved efficiency. Since 2019 the cost of utility bills for the leisure centre has risen by 100 percent from £600,000 to £1.2m per year.
The improvement works, which have been completed successfully also saw the ice pad lifted, old and inefficient plant replaced and a new state-of-the-art drying cooling system installed.
Works were scheduled to take place over the summer period because it falls outside the main ice hockey season and is a time when club, group and public bookings tend to be at their lowest.
Clive Seabrook, GLL’s General Manager at the Link Leisure Centre, said: “We’re delighted to be reopening the ice rink, which is now much more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. We have already seen a reduction in energy consumption.
“We are now looking ahead to launching the new British Ice Skating Learn to Skate programme, designed for skaters or all ages and offering clear progression through eight stages of training.
"Another innovation for the autumn is the introduction of a new adult power skater class. Further afield, we’ll be supporting figure skater Arabella Sear Watkins, who trains at the rink and is supported by the GLL Sports Foundation, who will be competing in the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix in Istanbul later this month.”
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