Jules Pipe, the mayor of the Hackney, sent 14,000 letters to residents on Tuesday explaining the reasons for the latest delay. Forensic architects have identified 39 defects, including water damage to the floor of the sports hall, cracked walls in squash courts and problems with the women's changing rooms.
The letters said that the required repairs were more extensive than expected. "This means that the Clissold leisure centre will be closed for much longer than the minimal period that residents and councillors had been hoping for and it could be as long as two years."
The centre was closed last December for three weeks, which was then extended to three months. In an update on the delays posted on the council's website last month, Pipe conceded that Clissold would be closed for at least a year.
He also explained in some detail why the project had risen in cost from £11.3m to £31m.
The project was due to be finished in 1999 but did not open until 2002.
Pipe said the council had wanted to keep the centre open but could not because some of these faults were safety hazards.
He said: "Until very recently, the problems with the centre were not felt to warrant its closure. Gradually, however, other matters have come to notice, culminating in a flood in the basement electrical plant rooms creating a health and safety risk."
Pipe said the council would take legal action against those held responsible for cost overruns and faults. He said: "Hackney has two broad types of complaint about the Clissold project. The first is that the centre was completed late and cost too much. The second is that there are defects in the centre."
Hackney has begun a High Court action over cost overruns and delays. The defendants are architect Hodder Associates and cost consultant Davis Langdon & Everest. A second legal action is understood to be focusing on design defects.
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