UPFRONT
WELLNESS CENTRE BRINGS FUN AND FLEXIBILITY TO COMMUNITY Tameside Wellness Centre in Denton has opened as part of the regeneration of leisure facilities and sporting provision across the Greater Manchester borough.
well as replacing the A sexisting swimming baths off Manchester Road, the centre is providing other complementary activities and council services, helping to educate and promote health and wellbeing in an enjoyable, fun and dynamic environment. The aim was to provide many reasons to visit the centre in addition to its main offer of a gym, swimming pool and spa, whether it’s to attend a workshop or community meeting, to enjoy good coffee with Wi-Fi access, or to join activities across a number of multi-purpose studios. The centre has been designed by Pozzoni Architecture to incorporate both leisure and non-leisure facilities so that, alongside typical services, visitors will find a soft play area for children, a 10-pin bowling zone, community meeting rooms and a main social space with separate areas for arts performances, a cafe and a library.
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Even the roof of the centre has been designed to accommodate a sensory garden and has extra space for outdoor activities including an outdoor cinema, ensuring that more use of the building is encouraged and across a space that rarely gets used, making it much more efficient.
Dangling carrots The wellness centre is in a prime community location in Denton, only a short walk from Crown Point North Retail Park, and is within five minutes’ walk of the town hall and public library as well as being fully accessible by foot, car, bike and public transport. It has been built on the site of the former Oldham Batteries. One of the aims of the design was that one-off visitors would arrive at the wellness centre in one context but be encouraged by the dangling carrots of the building’s layout to consider other activities or uses too.
