Southwark Adult Education Institute

The Southwark Adult Education Institute, formerly known as the Pioneer Health Centre, is a medical and recreational centre now used as an adult education institute and doctors' centre, built between 1934 and 1935 by Sir Owen Williams. It is constructed from concrete and glass, with a brick plinth, and features a flat roof.

The street frontage presents three storeys and twelve bays, with a glass front articulated by a white concrete framework. The central six bays are gently rounded above a recessed ground floor. A high red brick plinth is present, and projecting quasi-entablatures create railed balconies to the floors above and to the edge of the flat roof. The ends of the building feature square three-window sections with parapets. The return elevations display a lower storey with one storey above, vertically divided by projecting pilaster strips. A detached staircase tower annexe provides access at second-floor level on the south elevation.

Inside, a gymnasium and a double-height lecture theatre flank a central swimming pool, accessible from the first-floor level. The ground floor originally housed a children’s playground and day nursery, a lounge/cafe on the first floor, and a library and rest room on the second floor. Established with the innovative concept of integrating social and medical facilities, the building was initiated by Doctors Scott Williams and Innes Pearse.