Fiasco as £30m leisure centre is mothballed

It was supposed to be a shining example of the excellence of British architecture and design.

More than £30 million of public money was spent building the Clissold Leisure Centre in Hackney, one of London's poorest boroughs.

But today, only two years after it opened, the state-of-the-art centre stands empty and vandalised. Hackney council has been forced to mothball what should have been its pride and joy after discovering a series of potentially lethal faults within the building.

The problems are so serious it may never be able to reopen.

Hackney North MP Diane Abbott is calling for an inquiry into the scandal. She said: "I have had hundreds of letters and emails on the subject. You can't close down a flagship project like this without explanation. If it is to be closed for design faults, we need a major inquiry to tell us what went wrong and why."

The problems that have blighted the centre include:

Persistent leaks from its glass and steel roof.

Water dangerously leaking from the pool and shower areas into the centre's electricity plant.

Cracked walls in the squash courts.

Wooden floors warping because of the leaking roof.

Blocked drains causing sewage to flow into the building.

Boilers that frequently broke down, leaving the pool unheated.

Malfunctioning air conditioning.

A spokesperson for Hackney admitted that, having commissioned a report from independent architects, there are "complex and serious defects throughout the building".

"Although further technical investigation is required before any remedial work can be commenced, it would appear that we will be unable to reopen the centre in the near future."

Swimming coach Greg McNeil used to teach at Clissold. He said: "Rain would pour through the roof into the pool like from a jug, which made me worried about the quality of the water.

"It was also a child-protection nightmare. Because of the faddish open-plan design, children could not be protected from prying eyes as they were changing or showering.

"A whole generation of kids in Hackney are now growing up without these important facilities. My kids are having to be ferried out to Islington by their parents to train. The council went after an award-winning architect to build a monument to themselves - not an amenity for the residents."

The leisure centre's history has been troubled since work first began on the building in

1998. The project was due to be finished by 2000 at a total cost of £7 million. But its stylish "glass wave" roof design, by awardwinning Manchester architect Stephen Hodder, proved impossible to build, causing delays and expense.

When it eventually opened two years late the project had cost more than £30 million - £10 million-of which came from Sport England and the rest from the council's budget.

The escalating costs crippled local services in the cashstrapped borough, with rubbish collections slashed and hundreds of jobs threatened.

Hackney council has now launched legal action against the scheme's architect and, it is understood, some of the contractors who carried out the works.

Hackney mayor Jules Pipe said: "I am determined to make sure that whoever is responsible for this is held legally and financially accountable."

Mr Hodder, the architect, is being sued by the council for professional negligence. But he denies the problems are his fault and blames the council's mismanagement. He said: "For the critical inception stage, there was no one who would take responsibility for the building."

Local resident Marcus Fairs, editor of architecture magazine Icon, said: "In my opinion the place has never worked properly. The Clissold is a monument to architectural arrogance and local government ineptitude.

"It was clearly designed to look good in glossy design magazines and boost the egos of the architect and the councillors who commissioned it. I got so fed up and frustrated that I cancelled my membership last September - but they're still charging me."