New drone footage has shown what progress has been made on a multi-million-pound leisure centre which is set to open next year.

The roof is now in place at Splashes in Bloors Lane, Rainham, as the £25 million facility has really started to take shape over the last two months.

The new centre, which is scheduled to open next summer, will include a swimming pool, a gym and exercise studio/party room, improved changing facilities and a café.

At the beginning of September work on the building reached its highest point when the last beam was installed – completing its frame.

The training pool for lane swimming and the leisure pool are also starting to take shape.

Construction began in March and on September 5 a topping-out ceremony took place to mark the completion of the main structure.

At the time, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for climate change and strategic regeneration, Cllr Simon Curry, said: “My own children learnt to swim here many years ago so to see it back on its feet is very exciting.

“What we have here is a site which is how we should be building things for the future now.

“We have massive thermal efficiency to reduce the cost of heating the building.

“We have solar panels all over the roof, a lot more than the original design. We wanted a lot more solar energy on the site. It is all good news.”

The new building has been designed to be thermally efficient, have electric vehicle charging points and will be mainly powered by solar panels which will help reduce running costs by more than £30,000 a year.

This will also mean carbon emissions will be 72% lower than a typical sports centre.

In June 2021, it was announced the former Splashes was to be demolished to stop it from becoming an "eyesore" and to make way for a new facility.

The plans were revealed shortly after the council announced a £5m revamp had been put on hold because surveys of the site had identified issues with the structure

In October last year, it was reported that spiralling costs had left the unitary authority considering the future of the project and whether to borrow another £7m.

This meant the total expected cost of the build would come to just under £25m – £20m more than estimated when plans for the initial refurbishment were first brought forward.

In December, Willmott Dixon Construction Limited was appointed to build the state-of-the-art centre which was then coming in at five times the initial cost at £23.65m.

Cllr Curry added: “That is always a challenge for local councils, whether the money you invest now is worth it for the future.

“It is a lot of money, it is costing a lot from the previous administration now the new Labour authority that has come in in May so what we are trying to do is to make it more of a centre for families and healthy living.

“The benefits for people’s health and wellbeing will really reap benefits for the future so it will be money well spent.

“I am looking forward to an exciting future of this site, it is brilliant.”