Sports Pavilion, Geoffrey Hughes Athletics Ground

The building is a sports pavilion constructed between 1961 and 1963 by Gerald Beech for the University of Liverpool, situated at the Geoffrey Hughes Athletics Ground. It comprises three distinct sections: men's changing rooms, a clubhouse bar and cafe, and a cricket pavilion with grandstand. The primary construction material is reinforced concrete, with brick cross walls. The southwest face of the changing rooms is tile-hung, although this tilework has been renewed. The clubhouse is largely glazed, and the entire structure has flat roofs with timber soffits.

The three sections are linked by covered timber bridges at first floor level, incorporating steps that extend the horizontal handrail, which also serves the cricket pavilion’s steps on either side. The changing rooms are situated above a ground floor equipment room and workshop. The clubhouse contains a store on the ground floor, a bar on the first floor, a cafe on the second floor, and an office and tank room on the third floor. The changing rooms feature continuous clerestory glazing and roof lights; the clubhouse has continuous full-height glazing, both set within a steel frame of square units with pairs of top lights. Notably, there are no corner mullions, and bold timber handrails provide a strong horizontal emphasis inside the bar and cafe.

The grandstand is composed of three long concrete steps with a rear handrail, supported on concrete column foundations. A plaque on the side of the clubhouse commemorates Geoffrey Hughes, who died in active service in France in 1918, and notes that the grounds were presented to the University of Liverpool for student recreational use. The plaque also records a Class 1 Civic Trust Award received in 1963. The pavilion is well-related to a nearby pond and copse. Gerald Beech, who was a lecturer in architecture at Liverpool University at the time, demonstrated a close attention to detail, resulting in a remarkable interplay of horizontals and verticals. The Architects’ Journal described the building as a product of considerable thought and imagination.