WORK will start next week on a �1.4million state-of-the-art sports pavilion at Longsands College in St Neots.

WORK will start next week on a �1.4million state-of-the-art sports pavilion at Longsands College in St Neots.

The single-storey facility will include four changing rooms and an all-weather pitch for hockey, football and other sports.

There will also be a multi-purpose room with a sprung floor to be used for an array of sporting activities including table tennis, pilates, aerobatics and boxercise.

Headteacher Rob Whatmough said the pavilion would be a real boost to the college and the community’s sporting facilities.

Mr Whatmough said: “The new facility will enable us to provide an even more extensive range of physical education activities for students. This is especially important at a time when schools are expected to promote the health and well-being of every young person.

“I’m confident that we will also establish a high level of community use not only by other schools but more generally in the St Neots locality.”

Fencing has already been erected around an open space to the north east of the college and the south of Priory Park with construction to commence on Monday (July 5).

It is expected to open in December.

The project has been funded by Cambridgeshire County Council and is aimed at complementing the college’s existing sports facilities.

According to planning documents, the pavilion will “provide a bridge between the college and the community to supplement current after school activities”.

It is needed to provide an all-weather sports facility for the school as the existing sports hall is used nine weeks each year for exams.

Speaking to The Hunts Post, Ann Christie, the college’s head of finance and premises, said the facility had been “on the cards for quite some time”.

She said: “Once completed, it will be a real boost to the school’s sporting facilities and we are all really excited.”

“We have worked closely with architects from Saunders Boston in Cambridge throughout the design process to ensure the college obtains the highest quality facility with the available funds.”