Hull Lido - cost soars to £10.5m but it will meet international standards for kayak polo and competitive swimming

The cost of the new pool at Albert Avenue, along with a new gym and fitness studio and refurbished poolside facilities, has now soared to £10.5m.

In March 2019, Hull Council said it was investing £4.7m in Beverley Road baths and the lido at Albert Avenue baths, which was closed to swimmers in the early 1990s.

By December 2019 the cost had risen to £7.5m, in part due to the cost of putting in pipes to heat the water in an outside lido.

Last July the budget was reported as rising to £9.1m to cover the cost of a new concrete base after a survey revealed the lido was not structurally sound and new heating and filtration systems.

.On Monday the council's Cabinet approved spending an extra £1.4m so the lido can accomodate top-level kayak polo and competitive swimming, with the pool now between 1.2m and 1.8m deep.

It means sports clubs, including the Kingston Kayak Club, will be able to hold sports events such as water polo matches theree.

The lido is going to be heated to 28C in the summer to allow families to use it - with council leader Daren Hale saying carbon emissions from heating the pool should be offset by the installation of a brand new boiler and more efficient systems. It will also be covered every night to cut heat loss.

Coun Hale said: "(The cost) has gone up because the original plans were to reduce its size and depth. I spoke to the canoeing people and they said it wouldn't be fit for international competition. Some of the plans we saw said it would only be 1m deep."

The pool will measure 31m by 23m, with enough space for a refuge area when matches are played.

Alongside the new lido, the project will see a large gym and fitness studio built, the refurbishment and redecoration of the whole building, and the replacement of all the mechanical and electrical systems, along with new heating and ventilation systems.

He said: "Without doing this it wouldn't be international or Olympic standard. It would seem a shame to spend all that money and have a lesser facility for canoeing clubs.

"You have to do it now rather than having 40 years of regret."

Work is due begin at the end of the month, with the lido expected to open to the public in summer 2023.