Britannia Leisure Centre
London, UK
Project details
Client
Hackney Council
Architect
FaulknerBrowns Architects
Duration
2019–2021
Services provided by Buro Happold
Bridge engineering and civil structures, Fire engineering, Ground engineering, Structural engineering, Sustainability
The new Britannia has been developed in consultation with local people, so it was wonderful to experience the sense of excitement felt by residents as they used the incredible facilities for the first time.
Cllr Chris Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health Adult Social Care and Leisure
I am so proud that we have delivered one of London’s best leisure centres, with absolutely incredible facilities that are affordable for people to enjoy.
Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney
Buro Happold stands out through the scale of their workforce and offerings, as well as the areas of engineering that they cover. Their people show a real passion for sustainable solutions.
Project Director, London Borough of Hackney
Situated within an ambitious regeneration scheme in Shoreditch, the Britannia Leisure Centre is a flagship development at the heart of the local community. Representing a significant investment by Hackney Council, the centre offers high quality facilities and an abundance of activity programmes to create a welcoming and conducive space for everyone to enjoy.
Challenge
Working on a constrained inner-city site poses challenges at the best of times, and in London these are magnified. Physical hurdles on this project included the need to build over an existing storm relief sewer, which meant we had to meet development requirements set out by Thames Water. Such issues are bread and butter work for our engineers, however, and we quickly overcame them by incorporating designated exclusion zones and intelligent foundation solutions into our groundwork plans.
By far the greatest challenge of all came in having to, quite literally, turn the traditional leisure centre layout on its head. Instead of engineering a long, low-level building, we were tasked with realising a multi-storey design that would allow for various sports facilities to be stacked on top of one another.
The primary reason that single-storey design is favoured for most leisure centres is because it enables large, open plan spaces to be realised without vibrations from differing activities impinging on one another across the building. When you try to create activity spaces in a multi-storey structure, rhythmic, coordinated exercises like Zumba and spinning can make the building bounce, causing vibrations that reverberate through the floors and disrupt other activities.
Solution
Because re-imaging the standard sports centre layout was unprecedented, no tools existed that allowed us to design in such a revolutionary way. So, we made our own. We wrote a new script to create footfall software that enabled us to carry out the specific analysis required for this project. This script allowed us to both predict the vibrations that will occur as a result of various activities, and locate ‘people’ throughout the building so that simultaneous group activities could be captured and modelled in a 3D environment.
We were then able to display the results of this analysis graphically to fully interrogate various design options, and demonstrate the efficacy of our solutions to the wider project team. This enabled us to develop a structural design capable of realising the long span areas required within a multi-storey layout.
Carrying out such complex analysis was essential for negating inter-floor vibration, and for space planning and building efficiency. As a result, the final design for the Britannia Leisure Centre situates the swimming pools at ground level, with sports halls, fitness suites and dance studios above. This is all topped off with tennis courts and five-a-side football pitches on the roof.
In line with the client’s sustainability aspirations, Britannia Leisure Centre compiles with the ambitious energy targets set out by the London Plan and upon completion achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. A new district heating network has been incorporated into the wider development and, once complete, will be the primary heating system for the leisure centre. Photovoltaic roof panels have also been used in the design to service energy demands in a sustainable manner.
Value
Britannia Leisure Centre provides an inviting social hub for the whole community. Large amounts of glazing create a transparent environment that allows people within the building to look out across Shoreditch Park, while those passing by can see what is happening inside. This ensures the centre stands as a beacon of entertainment and relaxation for the whole community to enjoy – whether you are inside or out.
From a wider perspective, Buro Happold projects never stand in isolation. We have already used the script we developed for the Britannia Leisure Centre across other projects, enabling dynamic design checks to be made for the first time. Applying our ingenuity in this way results in a faster and more accurate design process, which has the knock-on effect of saving time and money for our clients.
I’m thrilled that so many people are using the facilities, with bumper visitor numbers of over 400,000 in the first six months it really demonstrates how popular it is with the local community.
Cllr Chris Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health Adult Social Care and Leisure
