WORK on a landmark indoor skydiving centre at Basingstoke Leisure Park is progressing well.

The steel work at the front of the building, which will house two ski slopes, a dry surfing simulator and two racing car simulators, is almost complete.

Work has now begun on the foundations of what will be a coffee shop, and cladding is also now underway.

Over the coming weeks, work will continue to progress on several roofs which will form part of the building, and electrical and mechanical work will commence soon. Simon Ward, chief executive of Airkix – the company behind the £6million facility – said the project is on track to open to the public in the summer.

He said: “It’s a building project and with these projects you can never be entirely confident. But everything is on track and things are taking shape so we are still looking at a June opening.

“The builders have been fantastic. It has been quite a fast building project but that’s the way we like to do things.”

Northampton-based Airkix started building the simulator in November after council chiefs approved planning permission in July last year.

The complex will become one of just three indoor Airkix skydiving centres in the UK – the others are in Milton Keynes and Manchester.

The facility will hopefully be a real visitor magnet and is aiming to attract up to 75,000 people to Basingstoke Leisure Park each year.