King's Hall Leisure Centre
King’s Hall Leisure Centre
Following the completion of an initial programme of repairs and conditions studies at this Grade II listed leisure site, we began structural engineering work alongside Morgan Sindall, Faulkner Brown Architects, and Van Zyl & de Villiers to design and deliver a £50m scheme that will breathe new life into the centre.
We have been working closely with Hackney Council on their portfolio of leisure centres for many years. We first acted as engineers to advise the Council on the condition of the building’s fabric; design sensitive repairs to this fabric; and prepare condition reports to inform the Council’s maintenance programme.
Our work on the major refurbishment programme will help the centre evolve to offer modern facilities and reduce the operational carbon to current standards. This involves an extensive and complex suite of sensitive repairs which aim to address the ongoing issues experienced by the buildings and bring the existing pool up to modern standards. The work has required us leading a comprehensive round of investigations, allowing us to help derisk construction and build on our understanding of the original building fabric and its modern inventions.
The scheme proposes a sports hall, gym, changing facilities, and a new entrance building, all of which have been carefully designed around the existing structure. Interventions have taken careful consideration of the listed and significant building fabric and involve the reinstatement of one of the former pools, which has involved gathering an understanding of the original structural arrangement, as well as the more recent interventions, and how this can be adapted to provide a modern pool to the latest standards.
Embodied carbon has been an important consideration for the project team, with as much of the existing building fabric being retained as possible. Operational carbon is also a key driver in the project, and we are working with the design team to help accommodate new service equipment within the existing structure and its extensive basement to significantly improve the building’s environmental performance.
Client: Hackney Council
Architect: FaulknerBrowns