The earthworks construction phase, which started at the beginning of the year, has been completed and the stage of preparing to lay the waterproofing membrane on the area which will support the main basin is underway.

The centre, which is due to be a training site for the Olympic water polo teams, is situated on the border between St-Denis and La Courneuve in the Île-de-France region where swimming pool facilities are scarce.

The building is expected to have three pools - a 33 metre sports pool, a freeform learning pool for beginners and a small learning pool – and is anticipated to be a part of the wider Swimming Pool Plan project.

This scheme aims to create five new swimming pools in the Seine-Saint-Denis region to allow one in two schoolchildren to be taught how to swim.

French water polo team member and Cercle 93 player Mehdi Marzouki remarked that "it will be a magnificent legacy" for the area.

Other facilities are forecast to include two outdoor pools, a sauna, hammam, hot and cold baths and a weights room.

One of the pools is planned to be a classic swimming pool while the other is designed to be a 25 metre Nordic pool which is heated at 28 degrees Celsius.

"This is highly anticipated equipment because the current swimming pool is ageing and we have a backlog to make up for in terms of equipment of this kind," said Zaïnaba Saïd-Anzum, the departmental councillor for sport of Seine-Saint-Denis, canton of La Courneuve.

"Sixty per cent of secondary school students from Seine-St-Denis do not know how to swim when they enter sixth grade."