Former Richard Dunn Sports Centre

Former Richard Dunn Sports Centre

A local sports and leisure centre built between 1974 and 1978, designed by project architect Trevor Skempton of the Bradford City Architect's department. White, Young and Partners were consulting engineers and Sir Alfred McAlpine were general contractors.

The building comprises a striking tent-like structure of oval plan, measuring 100 metres long and 60 metres wide with a height of 40 metres. The gently-curved roof is supported by elliptical concrete arches positioned along each side, which cross at the corners in a sculptural manner with curved angles and faceted junctions. The roof itself is constructed of profiled aluminium sheeting and is punctuated by a mast of 1200 millimetres diameter at either end of the ridge, rising 7 metres and supporting steel cables which pierce the covering to support the unseen lattice-girder structure beneath. The soffit of the beams is marked by unused sockets for the originally-intended roof-structure cables. The hipped ends are five-faceted.

The materials comprise concrete edge beams, a steel cable-stayed roof covered with aluminium, aluminium glazing, a glazed steel access bridge, and concrete-block walls. The concrete beams are supported by piloti at regular intervals.

The north-east facing entrance comprises glazed aluminium doors concealed by an external roller shutter in an otherwise largely blind wall, which due to ground levels is relatively low and largely concealed by a ramped path sloping down at the north. The vertical end walls are largely glazed, with upper lights that angle away from the interior to meet the beams. At the north-west corner a solid-walled outshut, largely blind and with end buttresses and a profiled roof, expresses the squash court provision.

The south-west side is taller. At the left is the blind wall of the sports area. In the centre and right the projecting, blind first-floor wall of the facilities block is supported on concrete beams and piloti, creating an undercroft in which there is a loading entrance. The second-floor glazing angles out from the interior, more sharply above the transom, to meet the beam. Galvanised fire escapes descend at either side of this block.

The entrance accesses a lattice-girder bridge with glazed sides that ramps up to the reception in a multi-storey block along the south-west side of the interior. The bridge affords views of the vast interior space and the striking roof structure, with its masts and cable stays appearing even more reminiscent of a tent than the exterior. The multi-storey block contains spaces for reception, refreshment, offices and changing facilities. Sporting and viewing facilities are located in single-storey blocks to the north and the pool hall to the south.

For the purposes of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, it is declared that the reception, refreshment, office and changing areas and the sporting and viewing facilities are not of special architectural or historic interest. However, any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require listed building consent, which is a matter for the local planning authority to determine.