Sustain Green Award for 2012 : Scunthorpe Leisure Academy:

WINNER: The Pods, Scunthorpe – Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd / Andrew Wright Associates / Grant Associates / S&P Architects / Buro Happold / Biodiversity by Design

“I’m really buzzing about The Pods. It is going to be wonderful with a unique design that will really stand out”
Cllr Christine O’Sullivan
Cabinet member for Sport, Leisure & Culture

The Pods Sports Academy Scunthorpe

ARCADIS acted as Project Manager, Employer’s Agent and Construction Design Management Coordinator to develop the Pods, an innovative new build sport and leisure centre in Scunthorpe
The project, which commenced on site in November 2009 and was completed in July 2011, provides flagship sports facilities, swimming pools, a sports hall, meeting and function rooms, and a fitness studio and recreational facilities.

ARCADIS worked closely with the owners and project lead – North Lincolnshire Council, the client bodies and wider teams, to develop this iconic building on time and on budget. It also worked with Yorkshire Forward and the design team to manage the development of the project in line with a sustainable and ecological focus, which has resulted in it being shortlisted for the 2012 Sustain Awards.
The Pods features timber and glazed geodesic domes set within the park environment. The building offers an eight lane 25m swimming pool and learner pool, with facilities for 150 spectators. In addition, the facility has a six court sports hall, fitness studio, an 85 plus station gym, a sauna, steam room and spa. The contemporary and unique development also includes ancillary public areas such as wet and dry changing facilities, a destination café, a crèche, function rooms, and business operation areas.
The Pods was designed with sustainability in mind, and has been rated as “Excellent” by the BREEAM environmental assessment system for buildings. The development uses recycled materials, includes a biomass boiler and grey water recycling to feed the green roof and the water systems in the surrounding park. There are 120 car parking spaces set around the east side and the entrance. The Pods is complemented by a fresh water lagoon to the South, linked to a swale that surrounds the building.

ARCADIS worked closely with the team to progress the scheme while protecting the scope and original concept at all times.

(source: Sustain Magazine)

The largest deodesic laminated timber structure in Europe forms the award winning leisure academy located in the Lincolnshire town of Scunthorpe. The technical ability of the roofing division of RENOLIT Ltd in the UK was well known to the project architects S&P Ltd based in central London, consequently they contacted David Davis, National Technical Manager and asked for design assistance for the waterproofing of the five conjoined domes that form this visually exciting building.

Over the next few months the technical waterproofing challenges were discussed and agreed with the designers and has resulted in various Alkorplan membranes and accessories being used and installed by one of the UK’s leading RENOLIT Approved Contractors working for the main contractor Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd.

The ALKORPLAN membrane is exposed on 1 dome only, another has Sedum pre-planted mats, two of them are covered with Cedar shingles and another with metal cladding. The use of the AlkorSolar support profiles proved invaluable and has been adapted to support the battens for Cedar Shingles and the metal cladding following static and dynamic testing to ensure that the imposed loads could be carried by the system. Tony Brown one of the Renolit sales team used his expertise and experience to carry out the test prior to submission to the architects/engineers for approval. Apart from being the winner at last years NFRC Awards, the building has recently been awarded an environmental award from Sustain Magazine.

The building is now in full operation and S&P Ltd informs that it is oversubscribed by the residents of Scunthorpe.