Sports Leisure Management (SLM), trading under its brand Everyone Active, has signed a contract with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to take over management of five leisure centres from Tees Valley Leisure on 1 April 2013.

The contract includes Redcar Leisure Centre, which is due to close in 2014. The centre will be replaced by the £31m Redcar Leisure and Community Heart - currently under construction nearby.

Other centres included in the contract are Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Eston.

As part of the contract, £1.5m will be invested in upgrading the centres to provide new equipment and to improve gym areas and exercise studios.

SLM secured the contract after Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council announced that financial pressures caused the local authority to seek a new leisure operator.

It is estimated that the contract with Everyone Active will make savings of £500,000 per year in running the centres. The council was guided through the review of its leisure services provision by procurement specialist MAX Associates.

Olwyn Peters, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said: "The contract provides the council with the opportunity to retain all of the five existing facilities, reduce the cost of leisure provision and address some maintenance issues and invest in the future of our facilities.

"All staff employed by our current provider will transfer to SLM Ltd and I am delighted that additional jobs will also be created as part of the deal."