Building work has officially begun on Croydon's Legacy Youth Zone.

It has been three months since contractors arrived in Whitehorse Road to start on the "extensive" list of works to re-develop the site.

Now with the demolition out of the way, construction work has finally begun on building the £6.5 million project.

The Youth Zone Chairman, Nick Sleep, said Croydon's young people would benefit greatly from the development.

"I’d like you to picture this, that in a year’s time we will have a 20,000 ft sq purpose built iconic Youth Zone right where we were standing as we broke down," he said.

"The climbing wall, the boxing ring, there will be arts, craft, drama, theatre workshops, music.

"Our volunteers and staff offer coaching and where necessary pastoral care that may not be found easily elsewhere and all this can be accessed by kids for £5 to become a member and then 50p a visit.

"We are so excited to see this Youth Zone being developed here in Croydon."

A four-court sports hall, gym, 3G kick pitch and a "state-of-the-art" music suite with its own recording studio are some of the things that will comprise the Youth Zone.