BACKGROUND

OOBE, alongside Ryder Architecture, completed the design and construction of a new community sport, education and wellbeing hub. To the west of Newcastle City Centre, it is on site of the former Murray House Community Recreational Centre.

THE CONCEPT

The new community hub offers leisure and training facilities within a three-storey building combing: state of the art cycling studios, two four-court multisports halls, community spaces and activity studio on the ground floor. The first floor is dedicated to learning with four classrooms, digital education space and office accommodation for partners. A 3G roof-top pitch takes centre stage on the third floor. All trees on the site included tree preservation orders and accommodating the larger building footprint has meant digging into the existing site levels and manipulating the landscape to maintain level access whilst avoiding an existing sewer route. These site constraints presented challenges for the landscape proposals. OOBE has successfully designed around these to reduce the number of trees lost to the development and mitigate with new mature planting. The design includes a welcoming arrival plaza, extending the indoor fitness suite outside, along with car and cycle parking. A robust palette of materials has been chosen to provide a high-quality finish within budget.

RESULTS

The community hub and associated public realm will promote wellbeing and healthy, active lifestyles for all ages through football, sport and fitness classes. The local environment has also been enhanced with a biodiversity focused planting scheme.