Kentish Town Sports Centre
Kentish Town’s Grade ll listed Victorian baths has been redeveloped into a modern sports centre. Having served the local community since 1901, it now comprises the 33m restored Victorian pool, a new 25m pool, a learner pool, fitness gym and aerobics studio. Residential accommodation has been added to part fund the refurbishment.
The project is low energy – a remarkable achievement for a sports centre, particularly one where the majority of the accommodation is within a renovated Victorian building. Among the energy efficient systems thoughtfully integrated into the building is the use of borehole water to deliver low energy cooling and heating in the complex spaces around the centre.
The mezzanine floor built over the Grafton Pool accommodates a new fitness gym. During the warmer months heat rejected from the gym’s cooling system, which would otherwise be wasted, is re-used to heat the swimming pools.
The refurbished Victorian borehole abstracts water from the chalk aquifer beneath London. The water is used sequentially to heat the swimming pools, free cool fitness areas, recover heat from chillers and provides consumable water to the pools and the centre’s facilities.
The new 25m, level deck Grafton Pool has high coffered ceilings with acoustic absorption panels to reduce remembrance and enable good speech intelligibility for teaching swimming. The twin shallow ends allow two lessons to take place simultaneously.
The restored roof lights create a bright atmosphere, with ample natural light in the Willes Pool Hall during the day. Electric lights can be turned off to save energy.
Kentish Town Sports Centre is one project in our continuing story of nearly 50 years of delivering sports and leisure buildings.
For more images of Kentish Town Sports Centre visit Max Fordham on Flickr.