About

Opened in 2013, Glass Mill Leisure Centre includes an 8 lane 25m compe­ti­tion pool, a teaching/learner pool, spec­tator seating, mobile floors for both pools and disabled lift with full access to the main pool. It also provides fitness and health suites, studios and asso­ciated chan­ging rooms.

The exte­rior façade is clad in 1400 indi­vi­dual glass panels that were deve­loped in conjunc­tion with local artist Phil Coy.

Design brief

Glass Mill Leisure Centre at Lewisham was desi­gned to inte­grate new public spaces within an urban resi­den­tial deve­lo­p­ment. Crea­ting an attrac­tive and welco­ming sense of place for the commu­nity was at the core of the design brief and was a key driver for our design. 

The London Borough of Lewisham set out an urban rege­ne­ra­tion site and estab­lished a compe­ti­tion to design and cons­truct a new resi­den­tial commer­cial and commu­nity area within the urban struc­ture of Lewisham. The compe­ti­tion was won by Barratt East London and the deve­lo­p­ment includes 760 apart­ments, a repla­ce­ment of the London City Mission and the new commu­nity leisure faci­lity.

Inside Glass Mill Leisure Centre

The inte­rior constantly refers to the site and a high, beau­tiful entrance includes a restau­rant and park terraces.

The main compe­ti­tion pool is an 8 lane, 25 meter envi­ron­ment with moveable floors; disabled lift access to enable access to as many of the resi­dents as possible, no-one should be excluded from a commu­nity resource such as this and every effort has been made to make ‘The Glass Mill’ as inclu­sive as possible; spec­tator seating over­looks the pool area and below is the entrance to the chan­ging areas.

An addi­tional 20m learning/teaching pool also incor­po­rates adjus­table floo­ring and access to the wet and dry chan­ging rooms. By the use of black out blinds this area can be made comple­tely private for those who require it.

A full gym, sauna and steam room comple­ment the Well­ness & Treat­ment area along with addi­tional faci­li­ties such as an 8.5m indoor clim­bing wall, two dance / exer­cise Studios with semi-sprung floors and air condi­tio­ning; a club room, meeting rooms and a crèche are also on site, having some­where you trust to leave your children during a workout or swim is impe­ra­tive and the crèche is inva­luable in this regard.

1,400 coloured glass panels

The coloured external façade to Glass Mill Leisure Centre was desi­gned in conjunc­tion with Phil Coy, a local artist, to create the vibrancy that would be carried throug­hout the buil­ding. 1,400 coloured glass panels, back lit by LEDs, form a rain-screen that responds to external noise, through façade-mounted micro­phones, and the lights pulsate to follow the sounds. It repres­ents in light and colour the living sounds of the commu­nity and the streets in which the buil­ding is located. The entrance/atrium façade is more subtle with etched glass brise soleil and double height curtain walling over­loo­king the Public realm of Plaza and Corn­mill Gardens.  

Creating happiness

Glass Mill Leisure Centre is a buil­ding for the commu­nity and for the community’s rege­ne­ra­tion; it is archi­tec­ture that is desi­gned to create happi­ness and provide an inclu­sive envi­ron­ment where self-respect and good feelings can develop.

This buil­ding is highly inclu­sive, sustainable and respon­sive to the needs and rhythm of the local commu­nity. It has a vibrancy and yet calm­ness that needs to be expe­ri­enced rather than viewed. Glass Mill Leisure Centre was awarded the Mayor of London’s Best Commu­nity Buil­ding 2013/2014 in the London Plan­ning Awards.

Exterior views

Ground floor plan 

Pools hall 

Gym and dance studios

Entrance area

Companies involved