Fire pavilion to be rebuilt

By lbishop luke bishop luke.bishop@essnmedia.co.uk

A football pavilion which was burned to the ground earlier this year is to be rebuilt.

The pavilion, in the Kingston Road recreation ground, was gutted by fire in a suspected arson attack in May.

The £125,000 building was funded by the Football Association to encourage young people to take up the sport and was opened only a month before the fire.

Now Mole Valley District Council plans to reconstruct the building along the same lines as before, albeit with extra security measures, at a cost of about £300,000, which will be covered under the building insurance policy.

In the council's design statement for the new building it says: "Within this rebuild design, specific regard is given for risks associated with potential vandalism, misuse of facilities, etc, which can arise with occasional-use buildings of this type in relatively detached locations without full-time or resident management presence."

These extra measures include keeping entry and exit points to a minimum and making them more exposed to avoid security "blind spots".

The changing facilities and the general public areas will also be kept separate in order to "maximise security considerations".

David Sharland, executive portfolio holder for health, safety and wellbeing, said: "My understanding is that the roof is going to be something a bit stronger than timber."

He added: "I am very pleased to see that it has progressed as far as it has because we need the pavilion there for the sports and for people using that area."