Pictures from inside a leisure centre undergoing a £2.5million revamp have been revealed.

KentOnline was given an exclusive guided tour inside Maidstone Leisure Centre ahead of its reopening next month.

The new-look Aztec-themed pool in Mote Park, Maidstone was due to open in mid-July but has been pushed back by three weeks due to the late arrival of a slide, which was due to be shipped from Turkey.

The yellow equipment, which is now on British soil and currently being installed, is just part of a major make-over of the swimming pool, which includes interactive water features, a target game Totem pole and a revitalised wave machine.

The revamp was designed following news in the middle of last year that the leisure centre would not be receiving the investment needed for it to be knocked down and replaced until 2031, and would instead be given funding for a revamp.

During the last months of the Conservative administration at Maidstone council, the cabinet committed to providing either a completely new leisure centre for Maidstone, or carrying out a refurbishment of the existing centre at Mote Park by March 31, 2031.

It even set aside £60m in its 10-year capital programme for the work to be done.

In May’s local elections a new administration was formed with a coalition of Green, Independent and Lib Dem councillors. In a recent meeting, doubts were cast over this plan as councillors failed to commit to the project while further research is carried out.

The make-over is aimed at rejuvenating the pool to ensure the building, which is 50 years old in some parts, lasts until it could be rebuilt in 2031.

Mike Evans, leisure manager, said: “It needed investment to get through these next eight years.

“We were given £2.5 million from the council and then we were awarded £500,000 from Sport England, which we could then use to save the public purse.”

Mr Evans said the refurbishment has given them time to think about the new-look future leisure centre.

“It means we have eight years to think about what we want to do rather than waiting until it is falling apart and then have to make rush decisions.

“We can choose the right thing to do at the right time and with the right money.”

The pool is now due to open on August 5 and will include a fully-accessible splash park and a shallow circle pool with interactive water jets and fountains “to manipulate”.

The make-over has seen the removal of popular attractions such as the flume and the river rapids.

Kent partnership manager James Reyolds, who works between the leisure centre, Maidstone Leisure Trust and the local authority, explained the rapids were no longer functioning effectively, while the flume had “seen better days”.

“The flume might have been good in 1991 but now children are expecting bigger and better,” he said. “We just don’t have the height to make it an amazing flume with an inflatable ring and lots of dips.”

Instead, it was decided to provide something different in the new-look pool.

“There are other pools that offer flumes. We wanted to provide something different,” James said. “There is nothing like this locally targeted towards younger children.

He said there is still plenty for older children to do including the Aqua Challenge which is open every afternoon in the school holidays and at weekends, as well as the diving pool, which has also been updated.

“There is something for everyone,” he added.

The next stage will see the rest of the funding used to revamp the changing rooms in December.

The soft play area and polar slides will also be given an Aztec-themed make over in time for the October half-term and will be closed at the beginning of September, while the gym is also being updated.