Wheels are set in motion for skatepark

The King's Haugh building in the Peffermill Industrial Estate has been vacant since September 2008, when the popular Jelly Club closed down.

Now the site is to be completely overhauled to create a massive indoor skatepark and BMX course, with plans for a cafe and an associated shop also being drawn up.

The development is being undertaken by the operators behind the Transgression Park at Ocean Terminal, who have agreed to take over the site and transform it into the Capital's biggest indoor skatepark. The building, owned by the council's arms-length company EDI, will be fitted out with ramps, rails, jumps and tracks, while operators have also promised to create a purpose-built area for teaching beginners the ropes.

Ken Smith, a director of EHX Ltd and one of the people behind Trangression Park, said they were hoping to have the new centre up and running by the end of the summer, and promised a "bigger, better" experience than ever before.

And he said they had reached capacity at Ocean Terminal.

"We really were ready to move on, although Ocean Terminal was a great site," he said.

"It had got to the point when we had to turn people away because we were so busy.

"The building is fantastic. There's substantially more room, so we are looking to expand on what we had at Ocean Terminal, such as our shop, and also to create a cafe area. One of the main developments will be the learning area - a large part of our business has been teaching people to skate, but when we developed Transgression Park we didn't really consider that, so now we have the chance to build a proper training area."

His company has now agreed a 15-year rent with EDI, set to be approved by the council's finance and resource committee next week. The agreement includes a 15-month rent-free period allowing them to refurbish the building, which has suffered some damage from vandalism.

Bosses at Ocean Terminal said it had always been understood that the skatepark would be a "temporary" feature, although its success helped it stay in place for more than three years.

It closed down earlier this year however, after operators identified the King's Haugh site as a new home.

The top floor of Ocean terminal will now be taken over by "family" restaurants.

Centre manager Dennis Jones said: "It was always going to be a temporary arrangement, but they have managed to use the space to grow their business," he said.

"The space was always going to be a problem for them though in terms of limitations, so it's great that they will able to move on to a larger home.

"We always wanted to have more family restaurants in the centre, and we are working on the space now, with a view to opening it up in mid-August."