Carlisle Youth Zone is back open after a 12-day closure to enable a major part of its flood recovery work to be carried out.

Five tonnes of flood water had been trapped under the floor of the modern building on Victoria Place after Storm Desmond wreaked havoc.

Staff had hoped that they would not have to rip up the state-of-the-art floor, which had underfloor heating.

After trying for months to dry it out the decision was taken that it must come up and be relaid.

The youth zone closed on July 16 to allow the work to start.

Teams have been working round the clock to ensure the floor is relaid and ready for youth zone members to have somewhere to go during the summer break.

After a 12-day closure the youth zone reopened on Thursday night to its junior club. Last night, older members were back.

Today the youth zone will host its inclusion club, junior club and senior club before all sessions resume as normal next week.

Underfloor heating has been reinstalled as part of the estimated £1m renovation work that will be needed to bring the youth zone back into full operation.

General manager Murray Winters said: “We’ve got the floor back down now. That has been a huge job and the youth zone has been a building site while it has been going on. We had to close while they had all the gear in.

“Even though it is back it doesn’t give us the ground floor back. We’ve still got windows to go in and other work to do but we’re able to carry on using the first and second floors of the building like we’ve been doing since we got back in after the floods.

“We think it could be September, or it might be later than that, before the building’s fully back in use.”

Meanwhile Carlisle Youth Zone leaders launch a new holiday club on Monday.

The four-week club will be operating from Carlisle College.

Up to 800 children are expected to enjoy a range of activities over the month.