New lease of life for Sheffield Ski Village as developer announced

The Ski Village, which produced some of Great Britain's most successful Winter Olympians, was destroyed by fire in April 2012 and there have been a raft of smaller fires on the site since.

Sheffield Council has announced leisure company Extreme as the lead developer.

The firm has been creating leisure schemes since 1995 and owns TV channel Extreme Sports.

Alistair Gosling, Extreme CEO, said it was a "fantastic opportunity to bring Sheffield's much-missed ski facility bang up-to-date".

"All the excitement of sport and leisure facilities would be brought together in a totally immersive destination," he said.

Snowboarder Jamie Nicholls and skier Rowan Cheshire are both said to be on board and the council said 100 new full-time jobs would initially be created.

The ski slopes will be rebuilt in the project's first phase and could be back in action by as early as 2019.

A new sports and leisure development will take up 48 acres (19.4 hectares) of the old ski village site at Vale Road and surrounding land at Parkwood Springs.

It is hoped the project will reinforce Sheffield's reputation as 'The Outdoor City' and could include an indoor ski diving centre, live music and a virtual reality hub.

An outdoor mountain bike track, indoor climbing wall and snow sports centre have also been suggested, and restaurants, bars, shops and hotels will be built in later phases.