A “DERELICT” asbestos-ridden sports building has been made safe to use again following a major £17m refurb.

Closed after potentially lethal asbestos was found throughout the building in September 2007, the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace Park reopens on April 30.

The Grade II* listed building had what the London Development Agency claimed to be the largest bird cage scaffolding in Europe in place to remove the asbestos, a mineral which can cause serious illness if its fibres are inhaled.

Olympic standard starting blocks have been added to the eight-lane swimming pool, as well as electronic touch pads to monitor swimmers’ times.

The 6ft 9in deep diving pool has been refurbished with repairs to cracks in its Grade I listed diving board.

Lighting was so bad it was unsafe for divers at the Crystal Palace Diving Institute to use the higher boards, but now it is six times brighter.

Chris Snode runs the professional training programme at the club, which was given 48 hours’ notice to move out of the sports centre after the asbestos was discovered.

The former world and European diving champion says they lost 300 divers and £200,000 because of the sports centre’s closure, and they spent the last 20 months practising dry diving in a gym.

He said: “I’m really pleased at the extent of the repairs to the diving pool, they have thrown hundreds of thousands of pounds at getting it up to scratch.

“There’s been a real investment to help us win medals in 2012 with our London talent.”

As well as refurbishments to the pool, the majority of the centre’s 46m x 30m arena has been replaced, including the entire floor which had asbestos underneath, with a retractable 1,760 seating area and motorised glare blinds installed.

The director of development for the LDA, Martin Powell, says the renovation of the centre has been a big battle.

He said: “We have brought a derelict building back into use, and made it safe for users at the centre.

“We've brought the swimming pool and diving pool back to elite standards, which was one of the main aims of our refurbishment.

“It's been a big battle.”