The £9m Horley Leisure Centre opened its doors to the public for the first time on 9 January 2012, providing much improved leisure facilities for local people.

The new state of the art facility features a 25m six-lane swimming pool with ramped access for disabled users, a teaching pool, fitness gym with 45 exercise stations and free weights, four-court multi-use sports hall and an exercise and dance studio.

It also has separate male, female, family, group and disabled changing areas, reception with viewing gallery, cycle parking and parking for 150 cars, shared with neighbouring Horley Town Football Club.

The new centre, in Anderson Way on Court Lodge Road, replaces the ageing Horley Anderson Centre, which opened in 1974.

Cllr Adam De Save, Executive Member for Healthy Communities, said: "The Council has invested £9m in the development of the new Horley Leisure Centre, which will vastly improve sport and leisure opportunities for local people.

"The centre looks amazing and provides fantastic new facilities to help people of all ages and abilities keep healthy and active. We've had a lot of positive feedback already from residents and sports clubs, who are keen to be able to get in and use it for the first time, and I hope they will be as pleased with their new leisure centre as we are."

The building is designed to be accessible to all:

• the pool has full length ramped access with waterproof wheelchairs and a pool side hoist for disabled users

• there are four fully equipped disabled changing rooms, two of which are fitted with ceiling mounted electrical hoists to assist carers

• several pieces of gym equipment have adaptations to accommodate wheelchair users and other features to make them more accessible including fluorescent markings for visually impaired customers

• all the facilities can be accessed via ramps or lift

• the centre has high visibility signage with captions in Braille, a hearing loop system and tactile paving around the outside of the centre.

The centre has also been designed to be as energy efficient as possible, to minimise the centres impact on the environment and reduce running costs. Among the many energy saving measures are:

• a biomass heating system, which uses waste wood chippings to heat the air and water should supply 100% of the heating during the summer months and approximately 75% in the winter. This is a first in a GLL operated centre.

• roof-mounted photovoltaic solar panels capable of producing energy throughout the year, not just on sunny summer days

• a UV system for cleaning and removing bacteria from the pool water, which uses half the amount of chlorine than would usually be required for a pool of this size

• an advanced building management system enables areas of the centre to have different temperatures, lighting levels and ventilation, depending on use

• lots of natural light and low energy lighting throughout and a system of vents and ducts to create natural air flows throughout the building, reducing the use of mechanical systems

• the pools have thermal covers that are fitted when the centre is closed and reduce water heating costs by 30%

• much of the buildings structure uses renewable/recycled building materials including wooden structural beams and wooden cladding in the sports hall.

The Horley Leisure Centre was built on the site of the former Court Lodge School, which was demolished in September 2010. Construction of the new centre took just over a year to complete, starting in November 2010 and finishing in December 2011.

Horley Leisure Centre will be run by Greenwich Leisure (GLL), the Council's leisure management partner. An official opening event is being planned for next month.

David Hughes, Reigate and Banstead Partnership Manager said: "This fantastic new centre benefits from a wide range of the latest fitness and leisure equipment and offers a huge choice of activities, with something to suit every member of the community regardless of age or fitness level. We hope that this flagship facility will help to encourage participation in physical activity and promote a healthy lifestyle."

The existing Horley Anderson Centre closed its doors for the last time on the night of Sunday 8 January 2012 and demolition of the old centre will begin next month. The site will then become public open space, forming part of Horley's Riverside Green Chain.

Cllr De Save added: "Although the Horley Anderson Centre is to be demolished, the contribution made to the community by local resident Doug Anderson, who was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Horley Anderson through public subscription, will continue to be recognised. The new road created as part of the Horley Leisure Centre development is called "Anderson Way" in his memory."