Background

Wigan Council has a strategic vision to create a culture of health and wellbeing within their neighbourhoods. They are at the forefront of the movement to ‘pivot’ leisure services from a traditional sport and physical activity offer to one which supports wider active wellbeing.

In April 2023, the Council commissioned DB3 Architecture and SLC to develop new masterplans for two of its leisure facilities – Howe Bridge Leisure Centre and Robin Park Leisure Centre.

The Council’s vision is for both facilities to be transformed into active wellbeing hubs which serve the surrounding community in a very different way to help tackle local health inequalities.

 

Masterplanning support

SLC led on the stakeholder engagement and wider needs analysis work to help identify the required facility mixes. They developed a business plan for Howe Bridge to support an understanding of the likely future operating cost.

Through a series of workshops, SLC and DB3 engaged with partners from health, adult social care and the community and voluntary sector to explore the opportunities for service integration and the development of the ‘active wellbeing hub’ concept.

The outputs of this engagement and information gathered from consultations with National Governing Bodies of sport were used by DB3 to create design briefs. Subsequent RIBA Stage 1 plans were then developed for both venues. These plans demonstrated how the sites could be transformed into active wellbeing hubs through a series of phases as well as providing a capital cost estimate for each phase.

 

Project outcome

The Council is now considering funding options for delivering priority elements of each development in support of its wider ambitions for active wellbeing across Wigan.

TESTIMONIAL

The team have been excellent to work with and have expert knowledge of the sector. A recent commission to develop masterplan solutions for Howe Bridge and Robin Park Leisure Centres generated proposals that were comprehensively resolved and demonstrated a detailed understanding of our requirements. The proposals optimise our existing leisure centre buildings and bring much needed rationalisation of spaces to allow for cohabiting facilities and an expanded health and wellbeing approach. The work has provided a great platform for the future development of the assets.

Stuart Holden, Be Well Service Manager – Strategic Development & Innovation

MORE CASE STUDIES