New Fort Regent to be done by 2029, minister hopes

A new multi-use arena with bowling and a six-screen cinema could open by 2029 if plans are approved, a minister has said.

The Government of Jersey and the Jersey Development Company (JDC) have revealed further plans for Fort Regent's £110m revamp, including an arcade, e-gaming studio and an arena accommodating up to 2,500 people.

However, funding and planning permission for the St Helier leisure centre transformation will have to be approved by the new government after June's election.

Minister for Infrastructure Andy Jehan said: "I think there's a lot for people to look forward to. It's for the community of Jersey, it's for visitors to Jersey."

"Hopefully, when we have events on, locals will go and enjoy those events and, hopefully, it will attract visitors to the island to see some of those events.

"We also must be mindful about retaining people in Jersey and attracting people to come and work in Jersey, and if we've got a good range of events and good facilities, then we've got more chance of that," he added.

Jehan said the government would submit a planning application for the main areas by July, and, if approved, would secure preferred operators for the main areas by September.

He added that, if the proposals were approved, the site could open as early as December 2029.

As part of the government budget for 2026-2029, about £43m has been borrowed to pay for repairs to the roof and removing asbestos, with works due to begin in October.

Jehan said overall plans had been delayed because of asbestos.

He said: "There's an awful lot of asbestos that was used in the construction industry in the 1960s and 70s, so we have to make sure that we do that properly.

"We need planning permission before we can start that work and we're in the process of gaining that."

There are also plans for an outdoor play area, skatepark, sensory garden and pump track.

JDC CEO Lee Henry said it was important to make sure activities accommodated "all age groups" but that they were "commercially viable".

He said: "The way that we are going to be doing that is by having those commercial operators within the fort.

"It will be a case that, as you would ordinarily do, you have to pay for the cinema, you have to pay to go bowling, but there will be areas both internally and a lot of all of the outside areas that will be free of charge."

Previously mentioned proposals including a 500m running track are not included any more, as well as plans for a hotel on the site.

Henry said although a hotel was not on the current plans, there were intentions to build one on the site where the pool used to be in the future.

Jehan added a hotel would be "the biggest challenge" when it came to planning but that it would be needed to facilitate future events at the site.

About 200 islanders attended a meeting explaining the new plans on Tuesday evening.

Susan Turpin said she was "really concerned" about affordability and physical activities for young people.

She said: "I'd personally like to see more active leisure go into that site, especially in the internal areas.

"I want my kids to go out and I want them to be active, I don't want them to go and sit and do more e-gaming."

Meanwhile, Graham said he liked the idea of a multi-use arena and said "it'll be great for comedy and sporting events".

Marian said the plans were "quite exciting... we just hope it's going to happen", and he son Andre said in Jersey children "don't have many things to do".

He said: "If kids want to do something, they could ask their parents to come here because it's getting quite boring because many things are closing."

John said the plans were "very imaginative, very creative and they seem to cater for most of the population".

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