Sobell Centre ice rink expected to face lengthy closure

Published: 07 January 2011
by TERRY MESSENGER

LEGAL action may be taken after the breakdown of a new ice rink installed six months ago at Holloway’s Sobell Leisure Centre.

Islington Council paid £550,000 for the rink, which opened  at the Hornsey Road centre in July.

But by December, skaters had to plough through slush when the rink’s refrigeration plant stopped working. The rink was closed shortly before Christmas and is likely to be out of action for months.

The Town Hall’s Labour planning chief, Councillor Paul Convery, said yesterday (Thursday): “We may be taking legal action. The refrigeration plant doesn’t do what it should do, so the ice is not forming properly.

“The council doesn’t have any loose change at the moment and we’ve spent half a million quid on a rink which doesn’t work.” Islington commissioned property consultant Millbridge, based in City Road, Finsbury, to find an ice rink engineering company to install the new plant.

Cllr Convery said that the council’s legal department is now studying where liability lies – whether with Millbridge, the engineering company or both.

He said: “We have to weigh up the practicalities. We’re thinking about what are the right legal mechanics of getting the money back. We’re preparing the case.”

He added: “The  refrigeration plant seems to have a leak.    

“Nobody can find out where the leak is and to do so would involve dismantling the entire refrigeration unit, which is huge.”

He said the council would start from scratch rather than attempt “sticking plaster” repairs, but that could mean a lengthy closure.

Millbridge director Mike Nicholson said: “It’s all a matter between Islington and ourselves so I can’t comment publicly.”