Welcome to Cozenton Park Sports Centre, designed and built to meet exceptionally high standards of energy efficiency and sustainability, while creating much-needed recreational and fitness facilities for the people of the Medway area.

Replacing a 30-year-old facility with a highly insulated but elegant exposed timber and hybrid steelwork structure, the design solution helped meet both the client's aspirations and a demanding schedule.

Committing a total budget of £23.6 million/ 28 million EUR the Council announced plans to create a state-of-the-art, family-friendly leisure centre containing a children's play pool with flume and beach area, as well as a fitness gym and exercise studio.

Despite the original centre, Splashes, being only 30 years old, there were some serious structural issues discovered following routine surveys. In June 2021, the decision was taken to demolish it - though part of the original excavated area was utilised for the new pool, and much of the concrete was crushed on-site for reuse in the rebuild as sub-base and spread as a crane mat.

SPACE&PLACE were chosen as the architect and project manager, with Willmott Dixon appointed as main contractor, having undertaken a number of high-profile leisure projects across Kent.

Previous experience with structural timber led to the architect specifying a hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) and a steelwork package for the single-storey pool hall and adjoining two-storey multi-purpose building.

Structural Engineer, The Furness Partnership, were selected for the project while specialist timber engineer Engenuiti undertook much of the analysis and connection design on behalf of our partners, B&K Structures (BKS).

BKS were responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of the structural timber and steelwork, calling on Stora Enso and Timber Concept to manufacture the offsite prefabricated CLT and glulam components.

The GLT beams (1700 x 240mm) at 5m centres, joined by steel flitch plates enabled a clear span of 26.3 meters, while the Sylva™ CLT Roof and Wall elements completed the attractive backdrop for the pools' users. 120 & 140mm thick Sylva CLT Roof elements were used to form the deck over the adjoining wing of the centre, this time supported by a rolled steel frame.

Overall, from its distinctive roofscape to the cathedral-like timber structure which forms the pool hall, Cozenton Park Sports Centre showcases exposed timber throughout and is in the vanguard of a new generation of community leisure facilities being built with mass timber.

View other leisure centres built with mass timber

Freemen's School Swimming Pool ∣ Spelthorne Leisure Centre ∣ Tøyenbadet swimming pool ∣ Werfen Swimming Pool

Learn more about moisture management with mass timber