University of Leicester Sports Centre completed

The £3.8M project has been successfully completed and is now open to students and members for the start of the academic year. The building has been awarded a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating.

Colin Hide, Director of Sport at the University of Leicester stated:
 'We have a great design, achieved fabulous value-for-money and a building that adds value to the University Estate in general, and to the conservation area in particular. The choice of architects was excellent....building a 4 star building with a 2 star budget.'

The  University of Leicester, approached Brimelow McSweeney Architects in 2009 with a demanding set of requirements to provide a world class sports facility for students, staff and the local community in Oadby, Leicester that would be self financing through student and private membership fees.

The introduction of expensive University fees in the last couple of years has meant that prospective students not only require a top class education but also state of the art facilities. It was made clear by the University that they required a very high quality  building that would be part of a package of facilities that would compete with other universities to attract the best possible students to Leicester.

The scheme was to be funded on commercially terms and so the budget was tight and inflexible, but aspirations and desire were very high.

Our client made it clear that they needed a high quality facility that would be attractive to use for both students and members of the public but also cheap to run. The two main costs in running a sports facility are the staff costs and the energy costs. BMA used their extensive knowledge of the commercial health club sector to design a facility that minimised staff numbers. The energy costs have also been reduced to the minimum included use of sustainable energy such as the use of CHP boiler and solar thermal panels which has resulted in the building being awarded a  BREEAM Excellent rating.

The synopses of the brief is below:

• 25 x 8.5 x 1.2m ASA training pool.
• Spa, Sauna and Steam rooms to be sized for 8 - 10 people, and to be mixed gender.
• 600m² gym, including 150m² free weights area.
• 100 sq.m studio was to be provided.
• Fully accessible to all and  upgrade the existing University Sports Hall to current standards.
• A commercial club environment and the look and feel should justify a commercial membership fee.
• BREEAM rating of Excellent.

Brimelow McSweeney Architects have over a decade of experience in creating high quality Health and Leisur clubs for corporate clients such as Holmes Place, Parkwood, Club Carrefour.