Sports and leisure park in Winchester

Location Winchester, United Kingdom

Client / Operator City of Winchester

Architects LA Architects UK – BN7 3JW Lewes www.la-architects.co.uk

Author Mike Lawless

Photos ©Hufton+Crow

Official opening May 2021

Construction costs GBP 37.5 million (EUR 44 million)

NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND

SPORTS AND LEISURE PARK IN WINCHESTER

In the summer of 2017, LA architects came first in a decision competition for a new sports and leisure park in the 2000-year-old city of Winchester in southern England. It was a capital of Anglo-Saxon England in its day and has always been a place of learning, knowledge and education. The client requested something new and innovative – a building and sports park linking the university, the city council, a range of charities and the people of Winchester.

The new centre is located in an existing sports park adjacent to the University of Winchester sports stadium. It is a modern, well-designed and fully accessible building that offers the local community a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports and leisure activities. The design focuses on bringing light and views into the centre to enliven each space and connect it to the wider site. Carried out during the pandemic The building was designed and built during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the whole country was at a standstill. Completed in May 2021, the building complex has been designed to be an inclusive, inspiring and welcoming place for all people, regardless of their cultural background, gender, economic status and especially regard-

less of their abilities and impairments. Since opening, the project has quickly become the most successful national operator project in the United Kingdom, despite lockdowns.

Features include a 50-m eight-lane swimming pool with movable floor and boom to cater for elite athletes and competitors. It also has a children’s paddling pool and a 10 m x 20 m teaching pool with a movable floor. In partnership with the Pinder Trust, the centre also incorporates a brand new hydrotherapy suite, with a fully equipped hydrotherapy pool, treatment rooms and two changing rooms, for community members with disabilities or those recovering from injury. User group participation The large sports hall is also designed to be inclusive and enables sporting activities for all people, regardless of impairments. It enables sporting competitions at a high level. The centre is connected to the university’s athletics stadium and outdoor hockey, football and playgrounds. All facilities were designed in collaboration with a group of people with disabilities who are, for example, paralysed, blind or have mental disabilities – true to the motto “No one is left behind”.

For more formal training, the building has a large gym, which again allows and encourages activities for all ages, fitness levels and all types of disabilities. Two exercise

studios, a spinning studio, four squash courts, a climbing facility, an eight-court multi-purpose sports hall and a restaurant complete the offer.

The operation of the centre is being monitored and is currently showing a level of success that far exceeds the expectations of the city council, stakeholders and the community, which now has a truly forward-looking building in its historic city.

Winchester Sports and Leisure Park was designed to be a highly sustainable building and is one of the “greenest” leisure centres in the United Kingdom with a BREEAM rating of “excellent”.