New facilities have opened at a leisure centre in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, after work on the first £1.3m phase of a wider refurbishment of the venue was completed.

Lakeland Forum now boasts a new entrance, an enhanced reception area, a viewing gallery overlooking the 25m, six-lane swimming pool and additional facilities for disabled users as part of stage one. Improvements have also included the refurbishment of the Erne room and the main hall and the installation of energy-efficient measures. The second phase, now due to get underway, will include a revamp of the dry changing rooms.

Plans for the third phase include an extension and re-equipping of the fitness room at Lakeland Forum, with the final phase seeing the creation of a full-size, 3G football pitch. Phases two and three are expected to cost around £400,000. Londonderry-based architects Mullarkey and Pedersen designed the new-look facilities, which have been delivered by Dromore-based firm McAleer and Teague,

Fermanagh District Council director of leisure, tourism and arts Robert Gibson said: "We got additional funding which allowed us to create new disabled car parking at the front, which delayed progress slightly. "We were not doing that as part of phase one but when we got the funding we did not want to miss the opportunity. As well as disabled car parking, there are family spaces and two bus/coach space."