Students from two Norwich schools enjoyed a glimpse of the beginnings of a new £2m sports hall.

Eastern Daily Press: Pupils from the Hewett Academy and Jane Austen College visit the site of the new Inspiration Trust Sports Centre on Hall Road. Picture: Inspiration TrustPupils from the Hewett Academy and Jane Austen College visit the site of the new Inspiration Trust Sports Centre on Hall Road. Picture: Inspiration Trust (Image: Archant)

Pupils at Jane Austen College and the Hewett Academy, both run by the Inspiration Trust, visited the site of the Inspiration Sports Centre, which will be used by both schools.

The former Hewett Academy east gym is currently being demolished, to be replaced by the four-court hall.

Eastern Daily Press: Pupils from the Hewett Academy and Jane Austen College visit the site of the new Inspiration Trust Sports Centre on Hall Road. Picture: Inspiration TrustPupils from the Hewett Academy and Jane Austen College visit the site of the new Inspiration Trust Sports Centre on Hall Road. Picture: Inspiration Trust (Image: Archant)

Though the centre - which will also be used by Charles Darwin Primary and the nearby Wherry School - is based at the Hewett, it has been built using government cash earmarked for Jane Austen.

It will be mainly used for netball, cricket and badminton, as well as volleyball, trampolining and basketball.

Claire Heald, executive principal at Jane Austen, said: We already use the playing fields at the Hewett Academy and this new sports hall marks a new closer collaboration for us as schools in the trust.'

During the visit, Kier operations director Dennis Cotton and project manager Chris Clifton said the hall should be finished by summer, and in use by September 2018.

In October, when Norwich City Council's planning committee decided on the plans, some councillors raised concerns that the hall was a 'land grab'.