Britannia Project, Hackney

Located next to Shoreditch Park, the Britannia Leisure Centre had formed a key role in meeting the sport and leisure needs of Hackney’s residents for a long time. The existing building was, however, reaching the end of its design life and was becoming increasingly expensive to maintain. At the same time the building was set in a context of under-utilised car parks and poor-quality public realm.

The site was earmarked by the Council for redevelopment. In addition to providing a replacement leisure centre, the site was identified as providing the opportunity to accommodate new education facilities, including a new secondary school and affordable housing. The brief also sought to secure as much private housing as possible to help cross fund the delivery of the new and replacement social and community infrastructure.

Following on from some initial feasibility work undertaken by others we were appointed by LB Hackney to provide strategic urban design and planning advice to the wider design team.

The project was underpinned by a demanding programme that required the delivery of the school by a specified date. At the same time the brief required that the new leisure centre be up and running prior to the existing facility being closed. The project also had to deliver on a number of political commitments in terms of levels of affordable housing and maximum building heights.

As part of the process a number of complex technical constraints had to be overcome and given the nature of the project required the views of a very wide ranging group of existing and potential new users of the facilities had to be taken on board, together with the views of a resident community that was resistant to the prospect of redevelopment.

Resolution of these various factors drove the pre-planning and masterplanning strategies for the project. Decisions made in relation to the format of the application (a hybrid) and the levels of detail included with the application, which included an EIA were also essential in terms of enabling delivery on time and budget.

Finally the way in which we engaged with the community, the many departments of the Council, the planning authority and the GLA also played a key role in terms of keeping the project on track in terms of keeping the planning balance weighted in favour of the scheme.

We are proud of the fact that we have helped ensure that the process took only a year from planning submission to start on site. The first phase, comprising the construction of the leisure centre and the secondary school is now well advanced. The second phase, comprising the residential element of the scheme benefits from detailed planning permission and is due to commence early 2023.