Galliford Try’s Thornaby leisure centre: design and delivery notes for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Galliford Try has started construction of a £14m two-storey leisure facility in Thornaby town centre for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, featuring a five-lane swimming pool, gym and sauna on the cleared Phoenix House site funded through the Town Deal. The scheme includes a first-floor link bridge into the existing Thornaby Pavilion, internal reconfiguration of fitness spaces, a new entrance and an extended car park with 46 extra spaces. Public realm works are planned to improve site accessibility, with completion and Tees Active operation targeted for summer 2027.
Technical Brief
- Two-storey configuration and first-floor link bridge require careful vertical circulation, fire strategy and structural integration.
- Internal reconfiguration of Thornaby Pavilion fitness spaces introduces live-building works adjacent to a public leisure operation.
- New main entrance and circulation routes will alter pedestrian desire lines and require revised wayfinding and safeguarding design.
- Car park extension with 46 extra spaces drives additional drainage, pavement design and traffic-calming considerations.
- Public realm works target step-free access and improved permeability across the town-centre leisure cluster.
Our Take
Galliford Try appears frequently in our UK Infrastructure coverage as a preferred contractor for mid-scale public-sector schemes, so a £14m leisure build in Thornaby fits its pattern of targeting repeat local-authority work rather than one-off megaprojects.
Replacing a 1960s office block like Phoenix House with a two-storey community facility is consistent with other North East regeneration items in our database, where councils are trading obsolete commercial stock for social infrastructure to underpin town-centre footfall.
The summer 2027 completion horizon aligns with typical three-year delivery windows seen in comparable UK leisure centre projects, suggesting Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is likely sequencing this with wider town-centre public realm and transport upgrades rather than treating it as a stand-alone build.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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