The Northgate Arena's sustainable upgrade

The Northgate Arena in Chester received a multi-million pound refurbishment recently and reopened to the public in May 2026.

The much-loved leisure centre has been transformed into a modern, inclusive and accessible space for all the community to enjoy. As part of its major upgrade there have been lots of energy saving measures included, helping to future proof the leisure centre and make it more sustainable.

Some of the measures include:

• Reducing the depth of the deep end of the pool to reduce the amount of water that needs to be heated.
• Installing a new pool cover on the training pool.
• Additional solar photovoltaic panels added to the roof of the centre. These will generate an additional 113,255 kilowatts an hour – that’s the equivalent of powering 31 3 bed semi detached homes over a year.
• Low energy LED lighting has been used throughout - using 90% less energy than a traditional incandescent bulb.
• The majority of the windows have been replaced with more efficient glazing.
• Improvements have been made to the heating, cooling and ventilation system helping the centre to move away from relying on fossil fuels.
  
  

The below video sets out some of the changes that you might not spot when you go around the centre but are essential to help it run efficiently for years to come.

Watch the video on the Council's Youtube site.