The Pineapples Awards 2022 - Marlborough Sports Garden

Marlborough Sports Garden proposals win the Future Place: Public Realm award at The Pineapples 2022.

The Pineapple awards celebrate the urban life of places and seeks to recognise developments where people seek to live, work, and play.

The judges really felt that future public realm needs more covered open spaces that provide for a variety of activities, to be truly all-season and all-inclusive. They were impressed by the way this project works hard on all levels to create a year-round public space that contains something for everyone. They felt its community-led engagement was authentic. In particular, the environmental strategy in terms of material reuse was welcomed by the judges who felt it represented the right approach to future development. The broadening of the offer - with covered seating, rooms and areas offering shade and shelter - pointed to a more inclusive future for this space, designed to promote healthier lifestyle and living in the city, supported by the centre's links to the pedestrian street and cycle routes. Rooms and spaces available for hire suggest an economic longevity - an area where many public realm projects struggle.

The Marlborough Sports Garden is a rare outdoor space providing much-needed access to physical activity, sport and leisure pursuits. This third phase of improvements continues to focus on the local public health agenda, and the move to mitigate against childhood obesity and inactivity.

Our proposal will provide a new community hub building that will support the revamped and reinvigorated Garden with a new commuity cafe, which can double-up as an events space, equipment store, flexible studio spaces and spectator seating.

Our future places need to be socially sustainable. The new entrance, with its planted facade, will help to connect people to nature and provide a more porous, accessible and inviting gateway from the street to the activities going on within the Sports Garden.

Our client, the Bankside Open Spaces Trust and the design team are united in their ambition to make the hub as carbon neutral and circular economy compliant as possible, from the materials used to build the community facility, to the operation of the café and sports activities. The rational structural grid ensures simple construction and reduction of waste. This arrangement provides the best opportunity for reusing reclaimed materials.