Hackney council has begun to look for a new contractor to carry out repair work on the Clissold Leisure Centre in north-east London.

The council said that it wanted to speed up the process of repairing the Hodder Associates-designed centre, which has been shut since the end of the last year because of defects.

The council said: “We will forewarn potential contractors that we will be advertising for the award of work to repair the centre. This will shorten the time it takes to award contracts and get the work towards reopening the centre started.”

A report on the leisure centre by architect Bickerdike Allen and engineer Arup is due next Friday. It is expected to list what is wrong with the lottery-funded pool and sports centre, the extent of the problems, and how they ought to be put right. The report will also itemise how much the remedial works will cost.

The report will be confidential as it could be used by council lawyers in a legal action focused on design.

Hackney council is involved in a separate legal dispute on time and cost overruns with architect Hodder Associates and QS Davis Langdon.