Building work for a multi-million pound sports building designed for young people has begun.

The Unitas Youth Zone will be London’s second OnSide Youth Zone and will be located on Montrose Playing Fields when it opens in 2019.

Barnet will see the new £6.5m facility hold 20 sports and activities a day and be partly funded by OnSide Youth Zone and Barnet Council

OnSide Youth Zone is a national charity that has developed a network of Youth Centres for young people in the North West of England and the Midlands.

It will be providing £2.3m for the project and Barnet Council is to spend £4.2m on the building as well as providing the site for the Youth Zone. Barnet Youth Zone, once open, will become an independent charity and will run the centre.

Across the country 35,000 people are already members in the charity’s network, and Barnet’s new facility will be among the first in the south of the country.

Council Leader Richard Cornelius said, “We want young people in Barnet to have the best facilities and this project is a shining example of that commitment.

The new Youth Zone will provide young people in Barnet with an excellent facility to keep fit and active, whilst also offering them opportunities to gain employment.”

A further 12 Youth Zones are at various stages of planning in and around the capital.