A POOLE taekwondo school has neared the completion of a £80,000 refurbishment of its new facilities. 

Wessex Taekwondo Association based in Poole has said it hopes to be fully open from the end of May after spending the money on facilities in its new building. 

Claimed by Wessex Taekwondo Association owner John Harrison, 54, to be the best taekwondo facility the 'south of Manchester', the building contains a gym, changing room, consultation room, an in-house sports therapist, and soon-to-be-finished changing room and sauna. 

John said: "I outgrew the old facility very quickly and we needed to really have a bigger building. The guy that owned the unit had his own business running out there and it was a case that took priority for obvious reasons.

"We took possession of it on February 2 so from then to now I've been renovating this place permanently.

"All of this I built, everything you see down here I built because there was nothing here, it was just an open building with a concrete mezzanine."

With help from funding and local businesses, John has managed to get the best equipment for the building with the gym funded by £10,000 given by the National Lottery. 

In the main hall, John has fitted two 10m squares with an 8m octagon giving much more room to practice.

He said: "As of the April bank holiday Monday, we were out of the other place, we couldn't train there anymore. We had to get over the course of that weekend everything across so we had kids in, we had parents cleaning and everything was workable by Tuesday. 

"People turn around and say, 'wow it's so professional'. We haven't finished yet but we're going to have two showers, two dry changing rooms and a sauna. 

"I've personally run out of funds at the moment to get where we've got to, I've got enough to finish it off but we will be going out for funding again."

John hopes parents and kids can enjoy the facilities with the gym to be made open to parents while their child trains. 

Memberships to the TWA begin at £33 a month.