Opening is now autumn 2028, not winter 2027. Waverley has signed Willmott Dixon to plan the £36m Passivhaus centre, with building to start early 2027.

The new Cranleigh Leisure Centre is now due to open in autumn 2028. Building work is set to start in early 2027.

Waverley Borough Council announced the dates on 13 October, when it signed a pre-construction services agreement with the builder, Willmott Dixon. The agreement starts a detailed planning phase to settle the design, the costs and how the centre will be built (Waverley Borough Council, 13 October 2026).

It is the second time the timetable has moved back. In December 2025, when Willmott Dixon was named preferred bidder, the council said construction would begin in summer 2026 and the centre would open in winter 2027 (Waverley Borough Council, 3 December 2025). That release blamed conditions on the planning permission and a big change in market conditions.

Cranleigh is about 14 miles east of Farnham. The centre serves the village and the surrounding parishes in the east of the borough.

What it means for you

  • The old centre stays open. The 1969 building keeps running until the new one is ready, then the service swaps across. The old centre is pulled down after that (project FAQs).
  • Parking in Village Way gets tighter from early 2027. The new centre is being built on Village Way car park. Willmott Dixon has committed to keep at least 100 spaces there throughout construction.
  • The Thursday market will move to Stocklund Square car park, at the western end of the High Street, when building starts. No date is set yet.
  • The skatepark is being replaced on the green north of Snoxhall Fields, east of Knowle Lane. The council says the old one may have to close early next year, and expects to confirm by the end of 2026.

The timetable so far

Timeline of the new Cranleigh Leisure Centre. October 2023: budget set at 31.1 million pounds. December 2025: Willmott Dixon named preferred bidder, start promised summer 2026, opening winter 2027. March 2026: budget raised to 36.0 million pounds. October 2026: pre-construction agreement signed, start now early 2027, opening autumn 2028.
Graphic by Farnham Today. Sources: Waverley Borough Council Executive, 3 October 2023; council news, 3 December 2025 and 13 October 2026; Full Council minutes, 3 March 2026.
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What it costs

The project’s cost plan is £35,999,544. Councillors approved the extra money at a full council meeting on 3 March 2026, by 33 votes to 6 (Full Council minutes, 3 March 2026).

The budget rose by £4,862,292. It is funded from:

  • £2,651,900 of Community Infrastructure Levy, the charge paid by developers
  • £2,210,392 of council borrowing

The budget had been set at £31,137,252 in October 2023 (Executive decision, 3 October 2023).

The minutes record both sides of the debate. The recommended option, they say, “turns a deficit asset into a positive revenue generator”. Members in favour described the 1960s building as “steadily bleeding cash”. Critics raised the rising build cost and the extension of the payback period to 52 years. They asked for a full comparison with a cheaper low-carbon option that is not built to Passivhaus standard.

Since March, the project team has been through what the council calls “a detailed value engineering process” to manage cost pressures. It says consultants Atkins Realis have independently assessed every proposed change. The council’s release does not say what has been changed.

What the new centre will have

The council’s project site lists (Cranleigh Leisure Centre project hub):

  • a six-lane, 25m main pool, the same number of lanes as now
  • a 13m by 10m teaching pool with a moveable floor
  • spectator seating for both pools
  • a gym with about 100 stations, all new equipment
  • two studios, plus a health studio and a spin studio
  • soft play, a café and a Changing Places toilet
  • around 300 parking spaces once finished, with EV charging

There will be no slides, no sports hall and no squash courts. The council says the needs assessment did not support a sports hall on the site.

The building is designed to Passivhaus standard. The council expects it to be only the fourth leisure centre in the UK to get the certification. It says the centre will use 60% less energy per square metre than the old building. Everyone Active will run it, as it runs the current centre.

Parking during the build

Parking is the worry residents raise most. The council’s latest figures show Cranleigh’s two main car parks, Village Way and Stocklund Square, run at around 50% capacity on average.

Councillor Liz Townsend, the portfolio holder, accepted that parking will still be hard at times. She said “there will be times when demand is high, usually on Market days and Saturday Mornings.”

The council says a detailed parking management plan will be drawn up with the contractor, and residents will be told closer to the start. The tennis courts, which belong to the parish council, will be used as the builder’s site compound.

Questions about the project go to the council’s project team at clcnewbuild@waverley.gov.uk.

Sources