Spelthorne Borough Council has selected Willmott Dixon to build an energy-efficient leisure centre in Staines-on-Thames.
The £30m complex has been designed by sports and leisure specialist GT3 Architects with Gale & Snowden Architects to achieve the Passivhaus standard, consuming up to 70% less energy compared with a standard new building, optimising natural daylight and integrating photovoltaic panels to generate energy from renewable sources.
There is at least one other Passivhaus leisure centre in the UK – Exeter City Council’s St Sidwells Point project, which Kier is due to complete in the next few weeks.
Spelthorne leisure centre will have an eight-lane 25-metre main pool, learner pool, splash pad and spa, as well as a six-court sports hall, three squash courts, 950 sqm of fitness space, two studios, one spin studio and a multi-use room. There will also be an open plan café and reception space, along with a roof terrace overlooking four small-sided 3G football pitches.
Gleeds is project managers, with Engenuiti as structural and civil engineer, Van Zyl & de Villiers as M&E consultant and Faithful+Gould as cost manager and quantity surveyor.
David Gale, director at Gale & Snowden Architects, said: “The building has also been designed to be optimised for health with the use of natural materials and innovative technologies such as micro filtration providing drinking quality water for the swimming pools.”
Willmott Dixon’s Passivhaus experience includes the UK’s first Passivhaus ‘Plus’ primary school, Hackbridge Primary School, and the UK’s largest Passivhaus secondary school, Harris Academy, both in Sutton, Surrey. It also built the George Davies Centre for the University of Leicester in 2015, another Passivhaus building.
Ian Edwards, director at Willmott Dixon in the London & South region, said: “This provides an exciting opportunity to put our expert knowledge in Passivhaus methodology into action again, to deliver a building that once complete will deliver substantial year-on-year cost savings, while creating a first-class sporting facility to support the health and wellbeing of the community.”
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