44 PROJECT REPORT: SPORTS & LEISURE FACILITIES
“While we have modified it a bit, it is still the nice old building that it was – its character is still very evident”
Sam Kendon, Marshall & Kendon Architects
with insulation.” The builders spent “about a year” fixing up the fabric across the building. In the meantime, Marshall & Kendon designed and applied for another listed building consent to do the new work and the modifications. “So, by the time they’d finished fixing it up we were ready to do the new work, which involved demolishing a 1950s extension, and constructing a new building in its place, which includes the reception, bar, kitchen and WC’s at ground floor, and a big function room above.” This section was demolished rather than reused, partly because it was the wrong shape, and partly because of the restrictions around building on the surrounding flood plain. “In order to build new, we had to take out the old. That’s why we demolished both the old plant room and the old sports field changing rooms. The only bit that we really lost of the historical fabric was the 1950s plant room.”
Materials With preservation in mind, as little of the materials as possible were changed. The architect says: “We used the same palette of materials on the new building as existed on the old building.
“Most of the materials that have gone into the Lido would have been familiar to people who used it 100 years ago.” According to Kendon, the only elements
BEFORE & AFTER
The design team undertook an comprehensive analysis of which decorative components could be retained and which had to be replaced
that are ‘genuinely’ new are the glazed screens with aluminium sliding windows. The rest are restored in some way. Replacing materials had its own complications however: “A lot of the timber had to be replaced,” said Kendon. “The main cast iron column structure was braced with steel beams. Several of those, although they’re encased in timber, had rusted right through, going from being 12/15 mm thick to nothing.” He continues: “We found some imperial
bricks, chopping out the rotten ones and putting new ones in, and we found big soft wood members and added those.” Engineered timber was used in places, for cost efficiency reasons. “Sometimes we used glulam instead of the very largest pieces of the timber, simply because they’re much cheaper and they look the same when you paint them. “Also, we took out some of the steelwork from the old building and replaced it with structural timber, because it’s easier to deal with really.”
As well as this, there was a corrugated
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iron roof on the back of the building, and plain clay tiles on the front, which were replaced ‘like for like.’
Some old timber had stood the test of
time. A lot of the ornamental timber used is soft wood but, as Kendon explains, “the soft wood that was around 100 years ago is generally better that soft wood that you buy now.” Because of this, the well-preserved pieces of ornamental timber were taken down, soaked for three weeks in linseed oil, given a thick coating of linseed paint, and then placed back in the building. All the mouldings and fretwork were treated in this manner. Some of it however, was “too far gone,” says Kendon, “so we ran up new mouldings and new fretted panels in soft wood, and treated them in the same way.” He continues: “Because a lot of that detail was quite high up, it’s pretty difficult to tell which ones are new and which ones are old.”
As well as the soft wood, the carpenters used decorative hardwood in various areas of the building. “They used hardwood nosing on the stairs, for instance, where you have to make something that’s both durable and visually contrasting.” This was done in part to satisfy disability regulations, which for example require a stair’s nosing to contrast with the treads. “We did that by using two different colours of hardwood. There’s also nice cherry handrails on the stairs, and little bits of fine timber inlaid around the place.”
Ecological properties
While there were no particularly radical approaches to environmental benefits, as would be expected in such a refurbishment, improving insulation was a key factor. Kendon explains: “In its original incarnation, it didn’t matter if the walls weren’t insulated, because none of it was indoors. “We’ve gone round the whole of the building, attempting to bring its insulation values up. For instance, we took off the old timber sarking boards and metal roof, and put a big layer of insulation between the two.
“Now we’ve done the north side of the
roofs, they’re all pretty well insulated too.” The new building to the west is built to current standards, and so is heavily insulated. On the other two sides, all the changing areas, spa, treatment and sauna rooms are built as separate pods, and so all have their own insulated walls. “There’s very little of the old 13 inch solid
ADF JULY 2018
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