Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub closes fully on 12 and 13 September with no power, completing a £4.75m heat pump and solar upgrade. Reopening due Monday 14th.
Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub will be closed all day on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September, with no power to the building and no access to any of its services. The shutdown is the last step of a decarbonisation project, and it needs the hub’s electrical infrastructure connected to an upgraded supply. (Warrington Borough Council)
The council expects power back and normal operations resuming by Monday 14 September. It has attached a caveat to that: the timings depend on a third-party provider and may change. Anyone with a booking on the Monday should treat the reopening as expected rather than confirmed.
What has been installed
The project started in summer 2025. The works have covered:
- new low-carbon heating technology, replacing fossil-fuel heating
- solar panels, which the government award record lists for Orford Jubilee specifically
- energy-efficient LED lighting
- upgraded building management controls
- heating control valves, loft insulation and secondary glazing across the funded sites
The grant is bigger than the council’s own announcement says
The council’s release describes “more than £4 million” from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. The published award record puts a firmer number on it, and it covers more than one building.
Warrington Borough Council was awarded £7,547,766 under Phase 3c of the scheme, for two projects: Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub and Woolston Neighbourhood Hub. Air source heat pumps were to be installed at all the sites, with solar panels fitted at Orford Jubilee. (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Equans, the council’s delivery partner on the work, puts the Orford Jubilee share of that award at £4.75m, and says the measures there are forecast to save more than 750 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. The same partnership completed heat decarbonisation plans for 70 council buildings before the bid went in. (Equans)
The other half of the grant is for a building that is shut
Woolston Neighbourhood Hub, the second site named in the award, has been fully closed since September 2025. It was partially closed from that July. The council gave two reasons: structural concerns, and legionella bacteria that survived repeated flushing and disinfection.
Woolston is not a small building. It houses a swimming pool, leisure facilities, a library, a GP surgery and community organisations. The council estimated the cost of repairing it and making it safe to operate at roughly £3 million, and put its future out to consultation.
That consultation closed in January with more than 3,000 responses. The council said the options ranged from a full or partial reopening to permanent closure, that Cabinet would take the decision, and that a formal decision was “currently expected in early Spring”. (Warrington Borough Council)
Nothing has been published on the council’s news pages about that decision since, and last week’s announcement about the decarbonisation project does not mention Woolston at all. We could not establish today what has happened to the Woolston element of the £7.5m award. It may already be done, deferred or reallocated; the council has not said which, and we will report the answer when it does.
It leaves two council pools open that weekend
Orford Jubilee has two of the borough’s swimming pools. When we checked LiveWire’s own centre pages in August, three of its five swimming sites were open: Orford Jubilee, Great Sankey Neighbourhood Hub and Bewsey and Dallam Community Hub. Broomfields has been closed to swimmers since late July and Woolston since September 2025, as we reported last month.
Close Orford Jubilee for the weekend and two swimming sites are left in the borough. Anyone who normally swims at Orford Jubilee on a Saturday or Sunday has Great Sankey, on Lingley Green Avenue in WA5, or Bewsey and Dallam on Longshaw Street in WA5.
LiveWire’s website could not be read today. It now returns an empty response to anything other than a browser, so we could not confirm what it is telling members directly. The council says LiveWire members can use alternative sites during the closure, and points to the LiveWire app for locations and timetables.
What it means for you
- Do not travel to Orford Jubilee on 12 or 13 September. The building is fully closed, with no power. The council says there will be no access to any services, which includes the library and both swimming pools.
- Monday 14 September is expected, not guaranteed. The council has said the timing depends on a third-party provider.
- Get there before the shutdown if you need it. The hub is hosting one of this week’s free blood pressure drop-in sessions on Thursday 10 September, 9am to 12pm.
- Swimming that weekend means Great Sankey Neighbourhood Hub, Lingley Green Avenue, WA5 3AA, or Bewsey and Dallam Community Hub, Longshaw Street, WA5 0DY. Check opening times before setting off.
- Library items cannot be returned or borrowed at Orford Jubilee across those two days.
If you use Orford Jubilee and you are told something different by staff or by the LiveWire app, tell us and we will update this page: hello@warringtonwire.co.uk. Our roadworks and travel page covers what is shut on the routes across the borough that weekend.
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