A community gym and youth centre which has helped train Team GB medalists is finally ready to reopen after a five-year labour of love.

Former Olympic weightlifter Andrew Callard has fought a rollercoaster battle since the pandemic to breathe new life into the tired and worn-down facilities at the Dartford Gym and Youth Club.

The new-look centre in Temple Hill will reopen next month but before then the champion weightlifter gave KentOnline a sneak peek inside.

It includes a 3G football pitch, a cardio room, dance studio, weightlifting room and a main gym area.

Andrew, who competed at the 1992 Olympics, spearheaded the original plan to rejuvenate the “cold and damp” building, which still trains athletes competing at the top level, in 2019.

He explained how he joined forces with Temple Hill Youth Club to create a vision for the centre.

“We wanted to do something about the condition of the building,” he explained.

“At that time we weren’t sure where we wanted to get to but everyone knew that if something wasn’t done then our groups would be finished as the condition of the building was getting to the stage it was totally unusable.”

As a professional weightlifter, Andrew said he originally wanted an extension on the building dedicated to weightlifting but, after joining with Lorraine Bathgate on the youth club side, he said he was open to ideas.

And when Jeremy Sparrow from Dartford-based architect JS Designs had a look around he said the dream grew bigger.

Andrew added: “He was saying ‘you could do this and this’ and before he left my dreams of a basic refurbishment had turned into a full renovation with large extensions, 3G football, extension of the youth club, outside training area and more.”

The grand opening comes after the makeover was thwarted by a string of highs and lows since it started half a decade ago.

Stumbling blocks included funding problems, Covid and a burglary which saw it robbed of £30,000 worth of equipment.

After initial funding from Kent Community Foundation, Veolia and Sport England, the first shovel went into the ground in March 2022.

Andrew said: “By summer 2022 the extension shells were complete but due to Covid and the associated problems, costs had increased massively and a lot of the original contractors dropped out leaving the project in big trouble.

“We had a meeting with Ian Silvera and James Woodland from Sport England. This was an extremely stressful time for all involved.

“There were a few months where it looked like the project may never finish but Ian and James worked incredibly hard to secure additional funding and this was the turning point – this extra funding secured the completion of the internal work.

“James and Ian were the heroes of the project pulling it back from disaster and putting us back on track.”

More funding was then secured from Dartford CIL and the Community Ownership Fund to complete the outside, including resurfacing the multi-use games area and increasing the security of the site with additional CCTV.

As the finishing touches were being made on the project last month Andrew managed to avert a further setback.

He chased a would-be-thief who he had found loitering in the container storing all the gym equipment one afternoon while he was working in the gym.

The long-awaited new-look gym is due to be unveiled on Saturday, February 3 at 10am with an open invitation for the public to enjoy a taste of the variety of activities which will be available.

They will include weightlifting and aerial, hoop and dance classes.