Official opening of Jubilee Centre in Cringleford

The opening was attended by South Norfolk Council, Big Sky Developments, the builders Pentaco, and architects Ingleton Wood, along with other guests and residents. The Centre includes Cringleford Crackerjack’s nursery that welcomed new children last month. The opening was the exciting culmination of four years of planning, working with Big Sky and with Crackerjacks, to bring the building to fruition.

Chairman of Cringleford Parish Council, Trevor Wang said:

“With all the new housing comes a number of challenges for us as we are no longer a village on the outskirts of Norwich but part of its urban fringe. The housing provides opportunities via the funds that flow into our community from the many developers working in Cringleford. It’s the job of the Parish Council to make the most of these opportunities. The Jubilee Centre represents the main project of several put in place in the last couple of years to improve the recreational and leisure amenities available to people in Cringleford - The Jubilee Garden, Newfound Orchard and Allotments, and The Willow Centre Woodland Trail. There will be more to follow over the next few years, including, we hope, a multi-use games area and a pump track.”

The Jubilee Centre is a state-of -the art building with a 5A energy rating boasting solar panels, storage batteries, and a heat pump to reduce running costs. It also has eight EV charging points for community use. The Centre consists of a sizeable sports hall with a sprung floor suitable for playing badminton, junior and practice netball, volleyball, five-as-side football, or pickle ball, and can even be used for dance. It has changing facilities for the hall’s hirers and the users of the surrounding junior football pitches. Alongside the hall is a nursery for up to 30 children. The hall is available for hire by private individuals and clubs. The Centre will have four adjacent football pitches that will open next year and can be used by junior teams. The nursery, operated by Crackerjacks, a local provider already established in the area, provides much needed nursery places for local children from our growing community.

The building was delivered on budget at just over £3M and has been funded mainly by Community Infrastructure Levies on the area’s developers, and generous help from Big Sky.

Spencer Burrell Director of Big Sky Living said:

“As the developer of St Giles Park we have been delighted to work collaboratively with Cringleford Parish Council to deliver a fantastic facility that will benefit our residents as well as those across the parish.”

A quarter of the cost came from South Norfolk’s Co-investment Grant Scheme. South Norfolk Cabinet member, Lisa Overton-Neal said:

“I would like to congratulate everyone who has been involved in this fantastic project. The Jubilee Centre will be a fantastic new resource for people living in and around Cringleford. This new facility underlines South Norfolk Council’s determination to support the health and wellbeing of our residents and the importance of delivering essential infrastructure alongside housing growth.”