Morgan Sindall has sealed a pre-construction service agreement for the first phase of the ambitious £384m mixed-use community development.

The scheme will still need to be rubber-stamped by the GLA before work can progress with the first phase new leisure centre.

This large three-storey building, designed by architect FaulknerBrowns, will include swimming pools, sports halls and two rooftop tennis courts and two five-a-side pitches.

Building work is expected to start next summer on the leisure centre

Once the leisure complex is finished Morgan Sindall will build a new academy on the site of the current Britannia Leisure Centre site and car park. It will cater for 900 students plus 200 six formers.

Work on the new academy building will get underway once the new leisure centre is open

Later phases of the landmark scheme will include six residential blocks rising from four to 24 storeys containing nearly 500 flats mainly for sale. These will help to finance the earlier phase.

Britannia Project showing later phase of tower block construction

Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney, said: “Hackney needs improved leisure provision, hundreds of more school places and thousands of new homes. Our proposals help deliver on all of these. I’m very proud that, despite ongoing government cuts to our funding, our Council is finding innovative ways to keep investing in our communities.

“The current leisure centre simply doesn’t deliver the standard of provision or access that Hackney’s diverse communities expect, need and deserve now and in the future. The new centre will be better in almost every way and preserves many of the family-friendly elements we know that people value.”