‘Mens sana in corpore sano’, or a healthy body in a healthy mind, is what this public school was aiming to promote when it commissioned a fabulous new activity centre. The results speak for themselves
THE new £15m Activity Centre at St George’s College, Weybridge, Surrey opened in late 2019 to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1,000-pupil co-educational independent day school.
Designed by Scott Brownrigg, it replaced a 1980s pre-fabricated building with a 4,000 sqm, three-storey centre which supports the school’s sporting vision and provides an inspirational environment for student and community engagement.
The project brief presented several planning constraints. Located on Green Belt land, it was important for the client that the building blended in with the landscape. By making use of the setting’s natural topography, the top of the building appears as a single-storey form, flowing in unison with the landscape.
A further challenge was posed by the 8m change in level across the site that created a disconnection between the school buildings and the higher-level athletics track. Scott Brownrigg showed how the Activity Centre could link the school and the previously under-used athletics track in an elegant way.
Key to achieving this was a processional staircase located at the heart of the building, based on the staircase at Wells Cathedral. This provides a visual connection between all the spaces and is a fundamental driver for the building’s design.
A renewably-sourced, freeform glulam roof structure and cross-laminated timber deck spans the activity spaces and pushes the limits of structural timber to create a wave-like form that blends into the landscape. The various uses of space dictate the roof level and the ultimate form.
The glulam structure requires little energy to produce and bind large volumes of carbon from the atmosphere into the building structure.
The main sports hall incorporates a glass-sprung sports floor, which allows for premiership-level play on a multi-sport floor surface. The largest of its kind in the UK, it is fully programmable using LED lighting to provide all types of sports, including premiership-level hockey as well as netball, basketball, volleyball, handball, football and badminton courts. There is also a climbing wall, two dance studios and a fitness gym, as well as boathouse for the school’s boat club.
The floor offers increased flexibility in the use of space, allowing the school to promote many sports to its students. It has a life span in excess of 70 years made from durable, recyclable products.
The acoustics have been designed not only for high performance sport, but also to ensure the users feel comfortable, in turn enhancing social interaction, learning and productivity. The internal spaces are exposed to natural timber, which comes with a calming connection to the nature and the surrounding woodland, reducing stress levels, and improving concentration and happiness.
The design aims to significantly enhance the biodiversity of the site and create a vibrant sense of place. Accompanying the building are “rain gardens” that slow down the rainwater and provide social spaces.
Over 30 additional trees have been planted to complement and integrate the new landscape. Such initiatives work together to enhance the natural habitat that hosts the building, contributing to the overall promotion of healthy, happy lifestyles for the building’s users.
The vision for this project was to create an “activity” centre, not a sports centre, reinforcing the vision to deliver the school’s aim of “activity for all”.
Unique to this project, the design also incorporates a Mental Performance Zone, with aims to support a healthy mental state. This dedicated space opens up discussions about the mind, and increases awareness of mental health and wellbeing. Additionally, the zone helps equip the 11-18 year-old students with life skills for all performance situations, whether in the classroom, sports field, on the stage and into the future.
Scott Brownrigg utilised video reality fly-through models to engage with stakeholders and the public to help the school’s fundraising campaign.
Speaking about the plans to build the Activity Centre, Headmistress, Rachel Owens, said: “Of course, my main focus has been, and will continue to be, on the teaching and learning that takes place at the College. However, the St George’s strapline of ‘Perfectly Balanced’ means that in parallel with pursuing academic excellence, we must nurture excellence in physical pursuits, too - whatever these might be. It is hugely important to me that the new building is an Activity Centre, not a Sports Centre – I want all our young men and women to be enriched by it, not just those who seek, and achieve, high performance in team sports. I want us to offer activity for all, within an outstanding environment.
“I believe that the Activity Centre will enable a step-change in what St George’s offers; I talk a lot about all students being valued, happy and the best version of themselves – this new facility is a vital component in making this a reality.”
On completion, St George’s Bursar George Cole commented: ““Scott Brownrigg were fantastic throughout the project. They understood exactly what we wanted and produced an impressive design that far exceeded our expectations. We couldn’t have asked for better partners on this project.”
The roofing was supplied by Malone Roofing, which was appointed by main contractor Blenheim House Construction.
The design needed a roofing product elegant and pliable enough to accommodate its complexities, lightweight enough to minimise the impact on the roof’s structure and cost effective enough to cover such a large area. Due to the cross laminated timber deck construction and the architect not wanting fixings penetrating through the deck, a fully adhered system was proposed by Sika Sarnafil.
Sarnafil worked closely with Malone, the architects and the main contractor to develop a specification that not only had the correct U-values, but was also compatible with the CLT roof build up and ancillary roof mounted systems used, such as photovoltaics, latchways, a built-in gutter and upstands for roof openings
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