Sports Centre, University of Hull

This university sports centre was built between 1963 and 1965 to a design by Peter Womersley, with Paul Jones as architect in charge and structural engineers Ove Arup and Partners. Around 1967, ground-floor changing rooms were fitted and the squash courts extended.

The listing excludes several later additions which are not of special interest: the 1950 sports pavilion by Forsyth and Partners with 21st-century extensions on the north side, a 1991 link block by Napper Collerton Partnership, an attached 2004 sports science block by Gammond Evans Crichton Ltd, and a later lift-shaft built against the north side of the covered bridge linking the sports centre and squash courts, along with the associated partial second floor of the bridge.

Construction and Layout

The building is constructed from reinforced concrete, plate glass, and orange brick. It has a square plan with a central spine running east-west, positioned slightly off-centre to allow for a larger sports hall on the south side. On the north side, two gymnasia rise through the first and second floors, with changing rooms below on the ground floor. Store rooms occupy the northwest end at first-floor level, with staff offices above at second-floor level. Beneath the central spine is an equipment store basement.

The ground floor has an entrance at the east end of the spine (originally the student entrance) and another entrance at the west end into what is now the enclosed ground floor of the squash court bridge (originally the external staff entrance). The central spine contains enclosed stairwells at both ends, a ground-floor storage area for the sports hall, a first-floor spectator gallery with entrances to the gymnasia leading to the first-floor covered bridge to the squash courts, and a second-floor spectator gallery with an entrance to the staff offices in the northwest corner. On the west side stands a block of six squash courts arranged three to each side of a central gallery.

Exterior Character

The sports centre has gently cambered walls rising to support a deep, projecting, flat roof. The walls comprise long, narrow windows set between slender, tapering concrete mullions spaced 3 feet 3 inches (1 metre) apart. These mullions are parabolic in section to withstand wind pressures. The glazing is set directly into grooves in the concrete mullions, except for small, central-pivoting windows in galvanised iron frames, mostly positioned beneath concrete transoms and above precast concrete cladding panels with vertical grooves to encourage water run-off. These panels are used at the floor levels of the interior spaces: ground-floor level for the sports hall, first-floor level for the gymnasia, and first-floor and second-floor levels in the northwest corner where the store rooms and offices are located.

The ground-floor level on the north side has similar precast concrete panels with a narrow, horizontal band of windows lighting the changing rooms. Initially this wall was left open between beams to allow for car parking. At the corners, there are no corner mullions, and the glazing is broader and mitred to turn through 90 degrees, forming transparent corner angles. The base of the building curves into integral, semi-circular concrete gullies, with stone cobbles beneath the corners.

The south elevation features three doorways opening off the sports hall with half-glazed, metal doors and concrete steps forming little bridges over the gulley. On the east elevation, the original cantilevered entrance canopy has been enclosed with glazed screens and doors (not of special interest), linking it to the 1991 brick building on the east side. The projecting roof is built from a grid of pre-stressed open-web concrete beams supported by the concrete mullions, visible in the soffits. The deep roof is faced with rectangular concrete panels.

Projecting from the west elevation is an enclosed, first-floor bridge linking the squash courts to the main building, glazed with closely-spaced, slender concrete mullions. The originally open ground floor is now enclosed with glazed screens and doors (not of special interest).

The squash courts have concrete roofs to the outer courts which follow the 'play line' inside the court and deeply overhang at the front. Beneath these overhangs, the walls are formed by similar precast concrete panels with vertical grooves curving into gullies. The walls beneath the concrete 'play line' and the central squash courts are of brick.

Interior

The interior has exposed concrete and brick walls. It remains largely as built, except for the north side of the ground floor, which was fitted out around 1967 as changing rooms, having previously been left as a covered car park.

The full-height sports hall has a sprung timber floor and a ceiling with a grid of 3-foot (0.9 metre) square acoustic panels with concealed trackways for netting, superseded by modern suspended netting tracks and strip lights (not of special interest). The three external walls are panelled at ground-floor level using delicately board-marked precast concrete panels. Convector heaters are sunk flush into the panels where possible. The fourth side is formed by the central spine. At each end is a doorway set at right angles to open beneath the first-floor gallery. The doors and entrance lobbies are timber and glazed. In between, beneath the gallery, are two large equipment stores with brick walls and wide openings with roller shutters.

The first floor has an open gallery with a balcony of precast, board-marked concrete panels. Set back at each end is an enclosed, rectangular concrete stairwell. At the east end, the gallery is enclosed by a glazed timber screen originally used as a tea bar. The second floor has a glazed gallery with closely-spaced, slender concrete mullions and a wider concrete safety rail. The stairwells at this level combine concrete with irregular, inset windows, surmounted by glazed timber frames with glazed doors to the long sides and vertical timber panelling to the shorter concrete sides. A historic photograph in 'The Architects' Journal' shows that the inset windows were originally unglazed openings and the concrete stairwells were open-topped, the surmounting glazed timber frames being a later addition.

The gymnasia have sprung timber floors and a similar grid ceiling as the sports hall with concealed trackways. The space is overlooked by the second-floor glazed gallery in the central spine. A net on a modern suspended netting track (not of special interest) subdivides the space, replacing the original full-height timber sliding doors. The east end retains an equipment store with timber sliding doors in the central spine, with a glazed door from the first-floor gallery to its left. The east wall has a row of folding timber doors concealing mirrors. Part of the north wall has timber panels beneath the windows and a barre.

The west end has a glazed timber screen to the first floor of the central spine. The west wall has a single-storey equipment store with brick walls beneath a concrete ceiling. To the left is a glazed screen and door from the central spine; to the centre and right are two wide store openings, the centre one now blocked, the right-hand one with timber double doors. The second-floor level above the concrete ceiling has slender concrete mullions with timber panels and narrow bands of concrete between.

The concrete roof beams are visible around the external walls of the block of second-floor staff rooms, with similar acoustic ceiling tiles used elsewhere, and a modern suspended ceiling to the central corridor (not of special interest). The rooms have solid doors and the inner changing rooms have clerestory windows into the corridor.

The changing rooms on the north side of the ground floor beneath the gymnasia have fixed metal and timber benches and refitted shower and WC areas (not of special interest).

The squash courts have a central, first-floor viewing gallery looking into the courts, which are open above balustrades. On the ground floor, the inner walls of the courts are fully glazed. The southwest court is presently bricked up (not of special interest) but is due to be reinstated as a court. The straight flight of stairs is a modern replacement of the original spiral staircase (not of special interest).