A new multi-million-pound sports centre planned for Glenrothes is set to be formally named this week.
Local councillors will be asked to call the new building the Glenrothes Sports and Leisure Centre when they meet on Wednesday, signalling another milestone in the project to replace the Fife Institute.
The recommendation comes after users of the Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education (FIPRE) and the wider public were consulted. They were then invited to express their preference from a shortlist of potential names.
Glenrothes Sports and Leisure Centre was the most popular choice with 43% of the vote, while an option to name it the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre after a late Glenrothes councillor attracted 22% of the responses.
Retaining the name FIPRE was third on 21%, with other potential names making up the remaining 14%.
Following the paper and online voting process, a report by Joe Fitzpatrick, head of local and community services, and Grant Ward, head of leisure and cultural services, to councillors on Wednesday will urge them to back public opinion and give the centre a new moniker.
It adds: ”Fife Sports and Leisure Trust has indicated Glenrothes Sports and Leisure Centre as their preferred option. This name will maximise the marketing and branding opportunity to promote opportunities for all ages and activity levels to regularly participate in sport and recreation as part of a physically active lifestyle.
”The newly named state- of-the-art sports and leisure facility, with the capacity to attract major regional sporting events and competitions, will further enhance the name of the town,” the report says.
Graham Construction, which has been working on the regeneration of Kirkcaldy High Street in recent months, won the £21 million contract to build the new centre, which will go up on approximately the same site as the existing FIPRE building.
The centre will offer a 25m x 17m eight-lane competition-standard swimming pool with a gallery for 250 spectators, a 20m x 10m training pool with underwater movable floor, an 11m x 5m teaching and remedial pool and a modern wetside change area with adjoining health suite.
Dryside facilities will include a large gym with 80 stations, strength and conditioning studio, purpose-built aerobics studio, a regional standard badminton court, sports hall and two squash courts.
Outdoor facilities will include a full-size synthetic turf pitch, three five-a-side and one seven-a-side 3G synthetic turf pitches and an upgrade of the existing athletics track.
Work on site for the replacement of Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education has continued on programme, with foundation works and pool concrete sub-structures under way, ahead of the steel framework going up in November.
The project should be finished by April 2013.