News - Harlow LeisureZone
Impressive £50m Harlow Leisurezone development reaches completion for Olympic role
15 June 2010
The Harlow Gateway Partnership’s £50m Gateway Project now has a new centrepiece; the completion of the impressive new ‘Harlow Leisurezone’ leisure centre is a major milestone achievement in the regeneration of the town and marks a significant improvement in the quality and availability of local leisure facilities.
Schal, part of design management and consultancy practice TPS, (a subsidiary of Carillion plc) has been responsible for the project management aspect of the new community leisure centre’s construction, which has now also been accredited with a listing in the Official London 2012 Olympic Pre-Games Training Camp Guide.
The centre, which officially opens its doors to the public in late June 2010, will provide a wide range of facilities for all abilities and is expected to attract over 700,000 visits a year. Harlow’s local community can now begin to reap the benefits of access to brand new, affordable, high quality sporting and leisure facilities.
“This eagerly awaited sports and leisure centre is now one of the most modern facilities in Essex,” explains David Taylor, Schal’s Project Manager for Leisurezone. “This is something that has been acknowledged by its inclusion in the official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics guide; it is one of just 65 elite venues in the East of England and one of 600 across the UK, to feature in the guide.”
Schal was initially engaged as Leisurezone’s project manager in 2005 by The Harlow Gateway Partnership, consisting of Harlow District Council (HDC); Harlow and District Sports Trust (HDST); Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the national regeneration agency; and the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).
Schal project managed the development of Leisurezone’s extensive facilities, which include an 8 lane 25m pool and a learner pool. There are also 3 covered tennis courts and 8 badminton courts. The centre also has a 1100m² gym and associated changing facilities, crèche/nursery, multi function spaces and on-site catering and bars. The building is 14,000m² built over 3 floors. The project also includes over 500 car parking spaces and hard/soft landscaping.
The construction is a combination of steel frame and reinforced concrete with RC floors. The main pool hall has timber gluelam beans and a barrelled roof light. The external elevations are brick and render with some cladding and the roof is standing seam aluminium.
One of the challenges from day one was the delicate balance required between the design and the environment. Following an ecological survey of the site a number of areas of Bee orchids were identified. Whilst not a protected species they do enhance the local biodiversity of the area so funds from the project were made available to Harlow's Landscape and Biodiversity manager to move the plants to another site in the town.
Schal’s experience and subsequent expertise with a number of similar projects enabled its project management team to identify in the early stages that Leisurezone’s widely spread design team could have presented challenges if not managed proactively. Schal’s solution was to actively promote the use of web collaboration software, enabling Schal to help balance differing commercial and technical goals for the project.
This enabled a central repository for project data to be set up together with the proactive management of RFI’s (Request For Information) and Change Control Procedures. This significantly reduced the amount of hardcopy generated and helped to simplify communications.
Harlow is identified as an area in need of regeneration and the project is an important part of an overall strategy for the town. Some £50m has been raised through a combination of government grant (£11m) and land sales for housing, which has been reinvested to provide these modern sports and leisure facilities in the town under the East of England Plan proposals.
“It is good to see the continued success of The Harlow Gateway Partnership as it achieves another significant milestone,” said Mr Taylor. “Schal is extremely proud to be part of this magnificent achievement.”
