Ravelin Sports Centre, University of Portsmouth
Mark Palmer is speaking at the 29th annual IAKS congress in Cologne
- 28 October 2025
- 11:30 – 13:00 GMT
- Konrad-Adenauer-Saal
Mark Palmer, Director and Sports Sector Leader, will be speaking at the 29th annual IAKS Congress in Cologne, Germany. Attended by over 500 industry experts, designers, architects, engineers, and operators, the four-day IAKS Congress is a platform for sharing knowledge on how to create high-performing, accessible, and sustainable sports and leisure environments.
Mark's sports and leisure experience spans decades, and his impressive portfolio includes the Ravelin Sports Centre at the University of Portsmouth, the Olympic Water Polo Arena for the London 2012 Games, and the multi-award-winning Oriam (Scotland‘s National Performance Centre).
Event details
Mark will speak at the following session:
Strategies towards net-zero sports and leisure facilities - The soft-landings process for better building performance
Tuesday, 28 October 2025, 11:30 h – 13:00 h
Mike Hall, Partner at Faulkner Browns, and a frequent collaborator, will join Mark to discuss how government regulations are driving better energy performance in new leisure facilities. However, swimming pools still exhibit large variations in in-use energy costs despite high-spec designs.
Mike and Mark will discuss how adopting a soft landing approach is key to closing the gap between compliance and real-world efficiency and will outline this process and the substantial savings achieved at Portsmouth Ravelin.
Congress Centre North of the Koelnmesse
Messeplatz 1
Entrance Nord
50679 Cologne
Germany
