Our Tarka Leisure Centre has now been featured as a case study for Sport England https://buff.ly/483OefO
The Centre was opened in July 2022 and provides a state-of-the-art, sports, leisure, and wellbeing facility for North Devon.
Facilities include a unique indoor skiing area, 25m 8 lane main pool, 20m 4 lane teaching and side pool spectator seating – both pools have movable floors, a 4-court sports hall, 120-station fitness suite and 2 exercise studios.
From the outset, we designed the facility to have the following key qualities:
✅ Inclusive for all, irrespective of gender, age, culture or ability, that enables the local community to engage in a wide range of indoor and outdoor sporting and leisure activities,
✅ Friendly design – bringing light and views into the heart of the Centre to brighten each space and connect it to the wider site,
✅ Flexibility – The new extension is designed to be flexible and allow it to adapt, convert, and transform spaces and facilities to address changing trends and cultural values in Sport and Leisure,
✅ Break the Barriers – Entrance barriers are strategically placed so non-members and visitors can walk freely and passively to experience everything the building has to offer, from a visit to the cafe to being able to explore and view activities which may interest them, from swimming to skiing, to exercise classes,
✅ Thinking outside the box – the building extends into a civic space with a children’s playground and links to the Tarka Trail that runs alongside the River Taw.
A spokesperson for Parkwood Project Management said, “Watson Batty Architects have provided excellent solutions by maximising the orientation and positioning of the leisure centre on the site and integrating a large new leisure centre with an existing indoor tennis facility.”
