Construction work is now underway on Nottingham's new £9m Victoria Leisure Centre, which has been designed by architects Levitate.

Parts of the former facility, which shut on 1 April, have already been demolished in order to allow for the start of the construction phase. A six-lane, 25m family swimming pool with separate children's pool and fun splash play area will feature at the heart of the development, along with fitness and health suites.

Victoria Leisure Centre will also feature a café and a retail space, and forms part of a wider £32m Nottingham City Council (NCC)-led investment in leisure provision. NCC leader Jon Collins said: "Seeing the concrete foundations going down marks the start of an exciting stage in the rebuilding of Victoria Leisure Centre.

"This is the largest project in the council's vision to provide better quality leisure facilities and will lead to this part of the city having one of the best leisure centres in Nottingham." The leisure centre plans are linked with the redevelopment of Sneinton Square, which is due to commence in January 2011.

Led by Nottingham's Local Education Partnership, the scheme involves Carillion and Capita Symonds.