The grand opening of the £36 million Chilterns Lifestyle Centre has had to be postponed at the last minute because of issues revealed in the final stages of the building work.

The highly-anticipated official unveiling was due to take place on Monday, November 15, but, a few days before the ceremony, ‘some issues’ have been noticed by the contractors creating the centre.

A new date has not yet been set for when it will actually open.

Councillor Clive Harriss, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure at Buckinghamshire Council, said: “Having announced the date for the opening of the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre just last week, we are now in the unfortunate position of having to delay the opening which was due to take place on Monday, November 15.

“The building contractors responsible for the new Chilterns Lifestyle Centre have identified some issues from their final stages of testing, which means they are unable to hand over the completed building to the Council as planned.

“The project team, the leisure operator (Everyone Active), and all the other key tenants have been working incredibly hard to prepare for opening and the delay is clearly very disappointing for all those involved, but obviously it’s important that the building meets all of our requirements and high standards before opening.

“While we expect the opening will be imminent, we are not yet in a position to confirm a specific date; we will let everyone know as soon as we can and we remain in daily discussions with our contractors on this matter.

“We appreciate the delay will be frustrating for residents but we’re looking forward to the opening of the £36 million centre which will be a flagship sports and leisure facility for Buckinghamshire.

“We will of course keep residents updated on any further developments.”

The new facility will feature a modern leisure centre which has a large gym, an eight-lane 25-metre pool with viewing and a diving pool alongside a kids’ ‘splash pad area’.

There will also be a four-badminton court sports hall, squash courts, exercise studios, spa and a new climbing wall along with a café, nursery, and a new, fully accessible library.

Bucks Council said it will take 1,513,000 litres of water to fill both the swimming pool and dive pool.

A spokesman back in May of this year, said: “We are very fortunate that Covid-19 hasn’t impacted on the progress of the build to date.

“Our contractors, officers and key partners are all working really hard to deliver this project whilst at the same time continuing to follow government guidance so that everyone working on site can stay safe.

“We are also very grateful to our local residents for their patience while the works continue, as some disruption is inevitable on projects of this size.”

The reason for the delay has not been revealed by Buckinghamshire Council.