GT3 Architects’ new Passivhaus leisure centre in Staines has set a new bar for larger leisure projects in terms of both community engagement and building performance. Roseanne Field reports.
A leisure centre built in the Surrey town of Staines has not only surpassed sustainability expectations by becoming a Passivhaus scheme, but also provided a facility that is accessible and usable for everyone in the local community.
Spelthorne Borough Council set out an ambition in 2017 to create a new facility to replace the existing leisure centre, and from the outset it was envisioned by the council as a key community asset. So, the process began with a detailed public consultation.
This included creating a dedicated website where local residents could view the proposed site – adjacent to the existing centre which would be demolished to make space for a car park – and the plans for the building. A public exhibition of plans was held over two days at the centre, which allowed all local residents to have their say.
It was this process and the council’s strong desire to support everyone in the community that attracted GT3 Architects to the project. They were approached by the council to create an “exciting destination” that would be “flexible enough to meet the evolving and varied needs of a growing community,” explains Mark Gowdridge, director at GT3, praising the council’s “clear and early commitment to meaningful community consultation.”
The team got stuck in assisting with the consultation process by taking part in a range of activities, including participating in workshops, engagement sessions, and online and door-to-door surveys.
This variety of public engagement was “designed to ensure all local voices genuinely shaped the development of the new leisure centre,” explains Gowdridge. They spoke with and heard from groups who were traditionally underserved by leisure facilities, such as older adults, carers, families with young children, individuals with long-term health conditions and people on lower incomes. He says: “This insight enabled the council and the design team to go beyond standard design, tailoring the scheme in response to real, lived experience.” Gowridge adds: “The result is a state-of-the-art centre that addresses cultural considerations, offers adaptable and inclusive spaces, and promotes health and wellbeing.”
People & planet
The initial brief given to GT3 Architects was for a flexible leisure destination that would serve a diverse range of community needs. Their response integrates community spaces with wet and dry areas, “supporting the community’s current health, social and wellbeing ambitions, but also futureproofing for later generations, and offering the council long-term flexibility in terms of space and additional revenue opportunities,” explains Gowdridge.
GT3 are experts in the field, having previously designed award-winning sport and leisure facilities – though Gowdridge stresses that doesn’t mean a ‘one size fits all’ mindset. “Each design is bespoke and underpinned by our ‘people architecture’ approach, placing user needs, inclusivity and community benefit at the centre of every design decision.”
The council’s desire to focus on ‘people’ was therefore a key attraction, but what really made the project stand out was its “sheer scale and ambition,” Gowdridge says. This relates not only to its size, but the decision a little way into the project to expand the brief to align with Spelthorne Borough Council’s recent goal to be net zero by 2030. The new leisure centre was the ideal vehicle to demonstrate this, amidst a context of rising energy costs, and the
decision was made at Stage 3 of the project to aim for Passivhaus certification – an extremely rare target for a building of this scale and typology.
This turned the already-appealing project into a “one-of-a-kind scheme, blending state-of-the-art leisure facilities, people-centred design and cutting-edge sustainability standards,” explains Gowdridge. It presented a challenge that GT3 were more than happy to get stuck into. “We knew it offered a unique opportunity to lead the way in sustainable leisure,” he continues. “The opportunity to translate complex Passivhaus requirements into a leisure environment – only delivered once within the UK and to a smaller scale – was a challenge we were keen to take on.”
Despite being up for the task, delivering Passivhaus for a leisure centre was a challenging undertaking. “It’s one of the few leisure centres to be designed to Passivhaus standards, and the rigours and technicalities affect both RIBA Stages and programme, impacting design decisions agreed far earlier in the process,” he explains.
Passivhaus specialists Gale & Snowden were crucial to success on the project. “They worked closely with our leisure team and brought a level of lessons-learned that supported both the final design, and technical delivery team,” says Gowdridge. It was also essential to “escalate” collaboration and communication between design and build teams to achieve the rigour required.
GT3 embraced the complexity and the challenges which the project presented. “Mapping complex technical Passivhaus requirements to such a large wet and dry leisure typology added a challenging yet exciting knot of complexity to the project, as it pushed the team to look at new, better approaches and design techniques,” Gowdridge says. They produced over 500 technical and architectural drawings in the process, to ensure the highly controlled standards and necessary communication structures were in place in order to achieve “perfectly matched adherence to the stringent Passivhaus benchmarks, with millimetre precision.”
The close partnership with main contractor Willmott Dixon was also fundamental. “The project is distinguished by its deeply collaborative nature,” comments Gowdridge. “This shared commitment ensured that the final design didn’t just meet technical and environmental targets but also delivered real value to the local community.”
The completed facility is the UK’s first Passivhaus-designed 50:50 wet and dry leisure centre. The wet amenities include a 25 metre eight lane swimming pool with 250 seat gallery, a learner pool with full-width ‘self-depositing’ steps, a children’s splash zone, a steam room and a sauna. The dry amenities comprise a 200-station gym, three studios, two physiotherapy rooms, a six-court sports hall with 200 seats, three flexible squash courts, a Clip‘n’Climb wall, a cafe, a soft play, rooftop community gardens and four rooftop artificial 3G pitches.
Design with a difference
The design process had shared focus on providing an improved and more inclusive leisure facility placed “at the heart of every design discussion and meeting.” Initial conversations centred around the need to offer what the local community was lacking, taking into account inclusivity and local character, before evolving to also include Passivhaus design principles.
This was when the design really started to follow its own path, diverging from the sport and leisure facilities GT3 had designed and worked on previously. “Unlike typical leisure centres, which often rely on mechanical heating and cooling systems, Passivhaus demands a fabric-first solution,” says Gowdridge.
It was crucial that a high-performing thermal envelope was allied to well-designed thermal bridging details in order to reduce the high energy demands typically associated with leisure facilities. “The building layout and facilities were purposefully orientated to maximise solar gains, and plant rooms were dispersed throughout the facility to directly service areas directly with minimal energy loss and maximum efficiency,” explains Gowdridge.
They also examined the way conventional leisure facilities are often laid out, with “loosely zoned environments” meaning there’s very little control over how airflow, heat and humidity move between different areas such as the swimming pool, changing areas, gym or cafe. By contrast, to conform with Passivhaus, the team had to focus on precisely delineated layouts to ensure consistent and balanced conditions throughout the entire building. “This approach also significantly mitigates issues common in older or traditionally built centres, such as overheating, mould and poor indoor air quality caused by inadequate ventilation,” adds Gowdridge.
This separation in turn fulfilled the other key part of the brief – ensuring the facility would be suitable for all members of the community, who perhaps might struggle with the humid and uncomfortable environment of a traditional leisure centre. The result is a “welcoming, inclusive environment that not only reduces energy consumption – both now and in the future – but also better caters for a wide variety of users.”
The swimming pool hall also provided another opportunity to marry the varied aspects of the brief, with sustainability working hand-in-hand with the team’s people-focused architecture. The hall faces absolute south, meaning the windows, as well as offering views into nearby parkland also provide maximum solar gain, helping offset heating demand.
The team installed bespoke glazed screens and automated sliding doors between the learner pool, main pool and changing ‘villages.’ Gowdridge explains: “This not only enables the thermal separation required – ensuring heat is not lost – but, in addition to a purposeful cubicle and changing layout, this also means lifeguards and caregivers have clear sightlines across a large area.” He adds: “This was an integral safeguarding point to support caregivers of children, local school visits and general pool safety.” They also installed optional privacy screens for specific user groups, and an innovative microfiltration system which removes contaminants from the water and reduces the level of chlorine required – making swimming more accessible for users with respiratory sensitivities or skin conditions.
Poor filtration was just one of the pieces of feedback received from the community on why certain groups avoid typical leisure centres. Other comments that the design team and council took on board and fed into the design included stronger connections being made with the nearby park – via the large expanse of glazing in the swimming pool area. There is also improved wayfinding and Makaton signage, flexible studio spaces and general improved accessibility measures.
“Features such as barrier-free entry, Makaton signage, moveable studio walls and LED-lit sport courts not only support general site flexibility but purposefully make the centre more accessible to a broader range of users,” says Gowdridge. “Along with a coherent visual identity, Makaton combines symbols and signs with speech, making navigation and information easier to understand.”
Improved and simplified wayfinding was further achieved by exclusion of barriers for entering the facility, and simply “providing a strong, consistent visual identity,” adds Gowdridge. “Using a combination of colour, texture and clear signage helps users – including those with dementia, physical or cognitive differences – better orient themselves and move confidently through the facility.” These decisions were in part influenced by community input to prioritise circulation, signage and spatial hierarchy to overall improve navigation around the facility.
The studios, pool area and sports hall all include optional, moveable privacy screens and walls which allows the spaces to be tailored to groups of varying sizes and needs. A moveable pool floor in the learner pool means it can be used for different activities such as private school lessons, user-group classes, baby/young children sessions or aquafit classes. The sports courts feature LED-lit court lines to improve visibility for users with visual impairments, making them safer as well as more inclusive.
The centre’s colour palette was also carefully considered, with colours denoting different zones. “Throughout the social, transitional and wet leisure spaces, there is a focus on soft colour palettes, with warm materials and exposed timber instilling a sense of tranquility and relaxation,” explains Gowdridge. “In more active areas, signage and colour palettes are more vibrant, while still retaining optional private and quieter spaces.”
The facade design took inspiration from the locality. The overall approach was to make sure the building would make the most of its parkland location and blend public and private spaces, “to create an inviting environment and active frontage where the community can meet, play and exercise,” says Gowdridge. “The design embraces its parkland setting – drawing on familiar forms, colours, structures and materials – blending public and private spaces to create an active, welcoming frontage.”
The site is tightly constrained, so the design team came up with a “stacked” layout to make the most of the 9,000 m² footprint. This allowed them to include 3G football pitches and community gardens on the roof and not lose space elsewhere on the site, maximising the area available for the leisure facilities. This also responded to concerns at the consultation stage about the impact that pitches would have on biodiversity, access routes and flooding.
The materials used externally are textured brickwork, glazing, timber louvres and metallic panels, all of which “harmonise with the surrounding landscape,” Gowdridge explains. The brick, timber louvres and glazing were chosen due to their durability and connection to the character of local buildings, as well as their ability to provide both shading and privacy. “Large windows are framed with encased glazing and timber shading, balancing performance and privacy with architectural expression,” he adds. The metallic panels were selected due to their robustness and to make a strong contribution to the centre’s “visual identity.”
Precise construction
The Eclipse centre was built using a bespoke ‘hybrid’ CLT structure designed by Engenuiti, which had benefits of being light weight while reducing embodied carbon. Parts of the structure have been left exposed including CLT soffits which, along with exposed glulam beams in the pool hall and communal areas, “lend warmth, clarity and a sense of craft to the internal spaces,” Gowdridge says. These natural materials feature alongside a palette of muted tones and soft textures, adding to the “calm and welcoming atmosphere.”
The CLT structure was used alongside prefabricated elements which helped contractor Willmott Dixon improve the necessary precision for attaining Passivhaus certification. Airtightness was a crucial priority during design and construction – though managing this while designing high-humidity spaces was a challenge, admits Gowdridge. The phased delivery also proved tricky to navigate and meant careful sequencing during construction was essential.
As well as focusing on airtightness and precision during construction, other measures undertaken to achieve Passivhaus – in addition to high insulation levels – include triple glazing, optimised thermal zoning and glazing ratios, heat recovery and low energy systems, and the pool microfiltration system. None of it would have been possible, says Gowdridge, without the support of Gale & Snowden. “We actively sought their expertise to support, train and provide an important soundboard for our own design and technical specialists,” he explains. “Communication between design and build team was integral to making sure Passivhaus design choices – sometimes measured in millimetres – were effectively translated to site.” He also credits Willmott Dixon’s delivery of the high performance envelope and Engenuiti’s CLT design as critical factors.
Underpinning everything was the successful collaboration. The early stages had to be managed through Covid, with the design team having to navigate new ways of communicating with the council and stakeholders. There were also other challenges including rising energy costs, increased supply chain costs and the council’s net zero commitment; these “all required a high degree of flexibility, partnership and collaboration, ensuring evolving design concepts remained true to brief,” Gowdridge says.
The centre opened in October 2024 and has been positively received by both council and users, including for its reduced running costs, improved comfort and accessibility. While it awaits full certification from the Passivhaus Institute, it has achieved airtightness scores of <0.4 (permeability) and 0.12 (air change rate) – a 90% improvement over standard regulatory requirements. It is expected to save 50-60% in typical energy usage and more than 40% in comparable water usage – supported through the use of greywater harvesting and low-water-usage toilets, sinks and showers – and has achieved a 30% reduction in total embodied carbon.
The project has also been shortlisted for several design, build and public sector awards, and won an iESE Public Sector Transformation Award in March 2025. “The scheme has people architecture and collaboration at its heart,” says Gowdridge, who believes it “sets a new benchmark” for the sport and leisure sector: “As a large-scale Passivhaus leisure centre in the UK, combining low carbon, operational savings, inclusivity and design quality, it is a model for future projects.”