The swimming pools at the National Sports Centre (NSC) are scheduled to close in August 2018 for a period of approximately eight months.

All other facilities at the NSC will remain open as normal while a programme of improvements and essential maintenance work is carried out on the pools.

The moveable floor of the main pool and the flume rides in the leisure pool are 20 years old and need to be replaced.

The precise date of the closure will be well publicised, and the refurbished pool hall is due to reopen in spring 2019.

While the NSC pools are upgraded, customers can use the three regional swimming pools around the Island. Children from eastern primary schools won’t miss out on their swimming lessons, which have been re arranged at the NSC either side of the closure.

Graham Cregeen MHK, Minister for Education, Sport and Culture – whose Department runs the NSC – said: ‘The NSC pools are an important part of our Strategy for Sport and are used by thousands of people each year for competitions, training and leisure and some replacement work has become essential.

‘With recent improvements to other parts of the NSC, which resulted from the flood damage experienced in 2015, we will continue to boast a world-class sporting facility that benefits our entire community.’