FEATURE FOCUS: TACKLING STUDENT OBESITY
future. With an ever-constrained site, ageing facilities and a different demographic of audience coming through its doors, it was crucial for a new facility to meet a higher volume and aspiration of users. “We wanted to enhance people’s lives through
sport at the hub, so it was important for us to create a building which would physically match its purpose beyond delivery alone. So, we asked ourselves what makes Warwick distinctive? It has an urban heart that keeps getting more urban, a wonderful belt of countryside and dedicated spaces for sport. “Looking at the campus’ existing masterplan
we could see how well the university connects with countryside and football pitches – the terrain isn’t flat and there is a lot of wildlife nearby. We chose the hub’s location as it was within green belt land and could sit well within nature – with the now complete courts linking into the woodland - while also offering development opportunities for further pitches and infrastructure development in the future.”
User experience at the heart of design When working on the hub’s design the architects considered the psychology of participation at every level, looking to break down barriers and create a welcoming environment. Andy said: “We came up with a campus-wide vision, considering new buildings, and where and how people will be active. The university’s estates office has a mandate to look at every project and how it will benefit people’s health and wellbeing and we needed to consider how the campus is going to grow and may need the hub to develop in the future, such as footpaths and additional green spaces.” Involving complex construction work within a
live campus environment, the new hub has replaced all existing sporting facilities on campus and is set to be one of the leading sports facilities at a UK university. Designed to inspire and motivate students, staff and the wider community to engage in an active and healthy lifestyle. Speaking of the design, Nick said: “Although
the project is effectively a big box, everything is focused on breaking down barriers to participation – there are no turnstiles in the building at all. When someone arrives in the hub they are greeted by the phenomenal climbing wall, and from the building’s heart you can see 90% of the activity that happens in building without needing to pay a penny. Similarly, the
swimming pool looks out onto woodland rather than a busy carpark, making it feel secluded and perfect for everyone, from those participating in sport to relaxation. For the Willmott Dixon team, user experience
spans beyond the build and its involvement did not end once the keys were handed over. Instead two of its team remained at the building after completion to ensure the hub was performing well for the university. As part of this, Willmott Dixon offered the
university its Energy Synergy consultancy, which accurately estimates the energy consumption of buildings during design, as well as monitoring it during occupancy to suggest improvements. This is similar to TM54 and is broken down into 12 categories, which makes for more precise reporting, highlighting design amends that make the building more efficient. The report encourages the university to invest in a strategy to continue to optimise the building to its full potential. At design stage, a realistic energy performance benchmark for the building was agreed, providing the baseline against which monitoring takes place. Francesca Wilkinson, sustainability
management trainee, Willmott Dixon said: “Monitoring the building’s usage, customer
satisfaction and energy efficiency is incredibly important to us as we want to make sure the hub is delivering on its promises. To date we’ve saved the university over £20k just by making marginal changes. At Willmott Dixon we are involved from inception to post-completion, helping the university make it a sustainable facility, not just a facility that’s sustainably designed.”
Setting an industry standard Overall the investment in the sports hub underpins the university’s vision to be a world- leading university that attracts the best staff and students from around the globe to join its community. Reflecting on the project Lisa said: “I always
see an incredible reaction when people come into the building for the first time, as it is so striking and modern – I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved. Not only was the project defect-free and delivered on time and budget, but Willmott Dixon handed over eight of our outdoor pitches ahead of time. This meant that we could begin to use this space commercially before the project was even complete. Every step of the way Willmott Dixon was outstanding, the team always
came to me with solutions instead of problems, giving us added value whenever they could. This is truly a world-class facility and we are certain it has delivered on all of our objectives, putting us where we want to be for the future. “Why do I think this was such a successful as a
project? Fundamentally every partner bought into delivering our objectives and understood the bigger picture. At the project’s beginning we all signed a physical agreement, which we still have on display today, which reminded us – even when things were tough – what we were working towards. Ultimately, we had the best project team and the best people on this job.” The now complete project has won a number
of awards including the ‘Award for Excellence’ at the annual Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) awards, Secured by Design Gold Standard and a BREEAM score of Excellent – truly showcasing how this project is leading the way not only in construction, but in sport, leisure and higher education estates.
April 2020
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