Work has just begun to create a 2,000 sq m four-storey fourth pavilion to expand SportPark, the award-winning development for the UK’s sports sector, on Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park.
Scheduled for completion in Winter 2022, the £9m project will be built to Passivhaus Classic Accreditation to significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The first Passivhaus development on the University campus, SportPark Pavilion 4 presents sports organisations with the unique opportunity to secure environmentally future-proof accommodation, tailored to their needs.
It will enable occupants to reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs thanks to highly efficient heat pumps, opening triple-glazed windows for natural ventilation, solar shading to avoid summer overheating and continuous and well-insulated building fabric to minimise heat loss.
The project will increase by 25% the floorspace of the five-storey building which currently houses the UK’s highest concentration of sports governing bodies and national sports organisations. SportPark Pavilion 4 will directly support 165 jobs with an additional 157 induced jobs in the wider economy, stimulating further demand to bring sports related organisations and businesses to the region.
The development is one of four key infrastructure projects to be delivered by the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) as part of the Getting Building Fund. Projects were chosen based on their impact on the region’s economic growth, both in the short and long-term, and their strategic fit to current economic priorities.
Professor Mike Caine, Loughborough University Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor Sport, said: “SportPark is a tremendous asset to the University and wider region – housing, as it does, complementary organisations, working in collaboration with the University, and harnessing the power of sport to benefit communities, locally, nationally, and around the world.
“SportPark Pavilion 4 will provide the capacity to welcome yet more mission-driven organisations to the University, and to further anchor the region as an internationally important Sports Innovation Hub.
“The SportPark expansion coincides with a growing number of innovation and technology-led sports businesses launching at, or relocating to, LUSEP, attracted to the collaborative environment and access to the University’s world-leading expertise in sports science, engineering, health and well-being, high-performance athlete base, and sports infrastructure.
“LUSEP is already one of the most accessible science parks in the UK, located one mile from Junction 23 of the M1. The recently completed £25M road improvements will ultimately create a further access point, even closer to the M1. This is particularly welcome news as LUSEP’s expansion continues, as part of the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone.”
Kevin Harris, Chair of the LLEP Board of Directors, said: “We are delighted to see the construction of Pavilion 4 at SportPark commence. Our £6M Getting Building Fund investment will create a state-of-the-art facility, attracting more sport-related businesses to Leicestershire and generating further jobs in this expanding sector.
“Our sector research shows the sports sector has the potential to deliver £100M of growth by 2030. The low carbon Passivhaus design of the building will make a valuable contribution to reducing CO2 emissions for Leicestershire, too.”
Contractor Henry Brothers Midlands has been appointed to build SportPark Pavilion 4. Managing Director, Ian Taylor, said: “We are excited to continue our successful on-going relationship with Loughborough University – helping to upgrade campus facilities and deliver new projects.
“As a Passivhaus development, SportPark Pavilion 4 builds on Henry Brothers’ growing portfolio of environmentally sound schemes and will be a fantastic addition to LUSEP.”
