Alderley Park Sports Centre – Projects

As part of the ongoing redevelopment of Manchester Science Park, a new leisure centre has replaced the current, 40-year-old, facility on a vacant wooded plot within the site. The new centre re-provides the current facility mix of sports hall, studios and fitness suite, as well as three new outdoor tennis courts and a five-a-side 3G pitch.

Contained within a simple and cost-effective envelope, great care has been taken to improve the customer experience by placing key spaces in a simple and intuitive layout, optimising the flow of people around the building.

With its simple plan and form, materials have been given special consideration to lift the design from the ordinary to the extraordinary, defining a building with a real sense of place. Taking cues from its woodland setting, the new leisure centre is clad in vertical timber ribs, giving the building a striking and unique appearance, while rubble from the site is recycled into the gabion cladding and retaining walls.

Winner of the Specifi Manchester Architecture Project of the Year 2020. The scheme was also shortlisted for the Insider North West Property Award 2020 (Design Excellence category) and the National Building & Construction Award 2020 (Project of the Year up to £10million category).