Client: Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd
Location: Knowsley, Merseyside, UK
Size: Leisure Centre - 6,600m² OurPlace – 1,400m²
Skills: Architecture, model making, graphics and branding
The 6,600m² leisure centre includes two 25m pools; an 8-lane competition pool and a 4 lane training tank complete with movable floor for maximum flexibility of use and accessibility. Spectator seating for around 300 people on the first floor overlooking the main pool will be provided. ‘Dry’ sports facilities include squash court, two dance/ multi-purpose studios, a 120 station fitness suite and a 6-court sports hall incorporating retractable bleacher seating for up to 900 people for use
as a multi-purpose events venue. Further facilities include an adult day care centre. All facilities are arranged around a bright and airy central atrium ‘agora’ social space allowing the activity spaces to be viewed and immediately legible upon entering the building.
The 1,400m² ‘OurPlace’ youth club will be operated independently, but is attached to and sits forward of the leisure centre to interact with the community and knit the local urban grain together in terms of scale and rhythm. The youth club is fully funded by the Big Lottery ‘MyPlace’ scheme – one of only a handful of such projects across the country.
A dramatic roof line draws the visitor towards the main entrance of the leisure centre, and a carefully angled wall sets a considered geometry for the scheme which is echoed in the design of a new public square in front of the building. The scheme is designed to meet the BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating and renewable energy will be produced on site through a biomass boiler.