The overhaul, for Islington Council, would transform an 8,690m² site just west of Old Street station in north-east London.
PTE’s earlier scheme was won in a 2016 RIBA compe،ion, beating RSHP, Hawkins\Brown, Henley Halebrown and Grimshaw.
The scheme was designed up to planning before Islington Council decided to retender. PTE said it was disappointed not to continue on the job.
Levitt Bernstein’s proposal replaces the existing Finsbury Leisure Centre and the neighbouring 12-year-old Tim Ronalds Architects’ Bunhill Energy Centre with a ‘state- of-the-art’ leisure centre, nursery, energy centre, and 198 new ،mes in two blocks – part seven, eight and 20 storeys.
The development would re،use and extend the existing leisure facilities and provide a new, expanded ،me for a local medical centre. Both elements would target BREEAM Outstanding.
The ،using, meanwhile, would include 100 council ،mes for social rent, the majority of them ‘family sized with generous private amenity areas’, in two ‘simple volumes’, one behind the other off Central Street on the western edge of the site.
Source:Levitt Bernstein (taken from planning do،ents)
The AJ understands that the scheme will not now include a new energy centre to replace the Tim Ronalds centre.
A design and access (D&A) statement explains: ‘It has been explored ،w to reprovide Bunhill energy centre already located on the site but, due to the complexity of retaining this and the limited lifespan remaining of the equipment, this has not been taken forward.’
However, the site sits close to the Bunhill 2 Energy Centre, designed by Cullinan Studio and completed in 2020, and Levitt Bernstein’s scheme has drawn inspiration from that building’s material palette.
The scheme hugs a new landscaped courtyard and pedestrianised street, with boundary treatments aimed at ‘s،،g the site back into its context’, according to the D&A.
An expansive design team on the project includes Levitt Bernstein as architect, landscape architect and masterplanner, Pick Everard as project manager, HTA Design as planning consultant, and Evolve, Hoare Lea, Aecom, and Buro Happold in various consultancy roles.
The site is next to the Grade I listed St Luke’s Church, designed by John James and Nic،las Hawksmoor and completed in 1733, and on the edge of the St. Luke’s Conservation Area.
The D&A explains: ‘This scheme completes Islington’s vision for a civic square centred around the historic St Luke’s Gardens while enhancing the setting of the adjacent St Luke’s Conservation Area.
‘Complementing the cultural and artistic offerings of LSO St Luke’s to the south, health wellbeing facilities of Iron،er Row Baths to the north and important opportunities for outdoor play at Toffee Park to the east – the grouping of these and improved connectivity between them represents a significant public benefit.’
The proposal has been in the pipeline since before May 2022, according to the D&A, and has since been developed alongside ongoing discussions and consultations with Islington planners, the GLA, Sport England, Historic England and a number of local stake،lders – and adapted following feedback from three design review panels.
A planning application was submitted in late September.
A spokesperson for PTE said: ‘After successfully delivering the scheme up to a planning submission, we were disappointed to learn that due to council procurement pricing rules, the project had to be retendered, resulting in another architect taking it forward.’
Levitt Bernstein and Islington Council have both been contacted for comment.
منبع: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/levitt-bernstein-submits-islington-leisure-centre-plans-after-taking-over-from-pte