Project Overview
- Project: The Centre
- Client: Slough Urban Renewal
- Construction Value: £18m
- Status: Complete
- Location: Slough
- Awards: Best Leisure Architecture UK - International Property Awards
A neighbourhood feel with state of the art facilities
Situated in the ‘Greater London Urban Area’, Slough was once considered a poor relation to other boroughs in the region and in much need of investment.
We were commissioned by Slough Urban Renewal (SUR), a proud partnership between Slough Borough Council and Morgan Sindall Investments Limited, to support them in meeting their aspirations for the borough. Their vision states:
“Slough is enjoying an epic period of rejuvenation and renewal. SUR is about creating iconic buildings, open spaces and connectivity, enhancing and improving local schools, providing high-quality new homes and leisure facilities in Slough. We also aim to maximise the local community benefits by supporting local companies and raising skills and training.”
Our client was ambitious, future focused and had an eye on delivering real value for the people of Slough. The latter point resonated in particular with GT3 Architects’ ‘People Architecture’ ethos.
Now, Slough is benefiting from what SUR describe as ‘epic regeneration’.
The overall design concept is based on physically expressing the ‘dry’ leisure and the ‘wet’ leisure as a series of interlocking elements that would allow each to be distinguishable within an over-arching language, ultimately with the aim of showcasing the different elements of the leisure offer within.
The ‘dry leisure’ elements are large and predominantly solid volumes which draw reference from the metallic boxes of the neighbouring industrial estate.
The ‘wet leisure’ element by its nature is a more transparent volume to offer light in and views out.
The boxy form took inspiration from the one of the UK’s largest trading estates located adjacent to The Centre. As a ‘hotbed’ of industry and business, the area is industrial in its nature.
We chose to echo this in the volume and massing of the site whilst also adding colour, texture and careful material choice to support the site to become a beacon for activity.
We recognised that the scheme needed to meet the aspirations set our in SUR’s masterplan and to be appropriate to the ongoing levels of regeneration in one of the fastest growing towns in the UK.
We chose to use transparent materials and perforated cladding to give the facade depth and activity during daylight hours, and so that it also came alive at night when lights were on inside the building, effectively lighting up the facade and encouraging visitors into the building.