FaulknerBrowns' Shoreditch leisure centre approved

FaulknerBrowns has won planning for a leisure centre in Shoreditch as part of Feilden Clegg Bradley’s wider masterplan.

The Britannia Leisure Centre will contain a 25m main pool, a training pool, a sports hall, exercise studios and four squash courts, plus two tennis courts and two five-a-side football pitches on the roof.

It will also have a creche and soft play area and a café which will be available to users of the neighbouring Shoreditch Park.

The existing leisure centre will remain open until FaulknerBrowns’ is completed. The project is still subject to GLA approval.

FCBS’s masterplan includes a new secondary school and hundreds of new homes – including 81 for social rent and shared ownership.

FaulknerBrowns has created a square at the northern edge of the site between the leisure centre and the housing which they hope will act as a gateway into the park.

The square and street will have views into the active parts of the leisure centre, such as the pools and exercise studios, while the changing rooms will be at the centre.

The changing facilities and lavatories have been designed after consultation with Project Indigo, Hackney council’s LGBTQ youth group and counselling service. Visitors are able to choose individual wet and dry changing accommodation or group changing facilities.

Steve McIntyre, partner at FaulknerBrowns, said: “This approach sets a new benchmark for inclusive changing facilities in a public facility of this type.”