We are excited to have received planning permission for a new build Sports and Social Club Pavilion for the village of Pirton, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The building will replace a dilapidated older building with a modern facility capable of supporting the thriving local sport teams and clubs. It will include a multi-purpose space, with ancillary catering facilities, suitable for a variety of community and private events. The building will seek to push the sustainability agenda through a careful selection of materials and high performance thermal envelope. Solar panels, natural ventilation and air source heat pumps will be utilised.   

 

The current Sports and Social Club building at Pirton Recreation Ground is an old work site hut and is now about 50 years old. It doesn’t have a damp proof course or adequate insulation and the showers and toilets are now very poor and non-compliant with Sports England and FA standards. There is also an adjacent old storage shed, which will also be demolished as part of the proposal.

 

Our starting point was to analyse the existing site and review Sport England’s and the FA’s guidance on sports buildings - specifically the optimum orientation and internal layout. Out of this research we looked at a site strategy that rotated the building clockwise from its current location in order to gain a better aspect to the pitches but also provide a more welcoming facade when entering the recreation ground. Our site concept was to have the ability for a ‘drop-off’ area and welcoming entrance space, with parking organised in rational banks further down to the south. Our concept for the building was “The Big Roof”! This provides an over-sailing structure that provides protection from the elements and an elegant architectural gesture.