LEISURE & SPORTS FACILITIES PROJECT REPORT
Brick was used for the lower part of some of the building’s exterior walls, providing a robust plinth. Roberts adds: “The setting is a Green
Flag Award-winning landscaped campus and there is a Grade II-listed building near the main entrance to the complex. In addition, one side of the project is close to homes. We wanted to be sensitive to the parkland and residential properties and not have a new sports complex that would be too imposing.”
Maximising available space
The university did, of course, want to achieve the maximum amount of space possible for sporting activity. “That really came first all the way through the project,” admits Roberts. “After all, our top priority was helping the university to achieve its targets for sporting success and increasing participation in sport.”
The answer was ensuring the main sports hall and other areas could be reconfigured for different sports. Roberts continues: “Something we always try and achieve with our buildings is to ‘do more with less’. So we’ve managed to fit a lot in through the spaces being flexible and adaptable. This might mean, for example, that a space meant mainly for one activity is a certain height so that in can also be used for badminton or table tennis.” “Working with the university’s sports department was crucial to creating those flexible spaces,” he adds. “The precise detail of the design brief evolved through lengthy consultation. For example, the squash courts were initially configured in a line, but after conversation with the university’s squash coach we rearranged them so he could observe multiple courts from one position.” He continues: “We encourage clients to consider as many options as possible in the early design development stages. It's at that stage that things can be changed without any cost impact. A constantly updated 3D model was critical because it helped us very quickly show the impact of changes.”
Unifying the site
Another part of the DRSV design solution was to unify the new structure with the existing nearby swimming pool building and outdoor pitches. The pool is now connected to the rest of the complex via a covered and glazed link building, and both facilties share a joint reception point. The boundaries of the new DRSV have been built to all but touch the pitches. An
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