Southborough Community Sports Pavilion

Baxall won the two-stage design and build competitive tender from Kent County Council (KCC) to deliver Southborough Community Hub, a £10.2m modern mixed-use community facility for the residents of Southborough and High Brooms. Located on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, the main Hub building itself comprises a library, community rooms, a hall/theatre, office space for Southborough Town Council and a new GP surgery (St. Andrew’s Medical Centre).

A key element of the Southborough Hub contract was the creation of a purpose-built, self-contained Sports Pavilion, located at the rear of the site. Upon completion, the two-storey Sports Pavilion would become the new home of Tunbridge Wells’ Youth Football Club (leased by the club from Southborough Town Council).

The ground floor of the Sports Pavilion houses four changing rooms complete with showers and WC facilities, separate referees’ changing rooms, a small kitchen with external window for refreshments and a lift/stairs to the first floor. On the first floor of the pavilion is the plant room in addition to a large open space with adjacent bar, kitchen and small room for training/lectures.

Baxall embraced Building Information Modelling (BIM) for both the main Hub building and Sports Pavilion. This fostered a collaborative team approach due to the ways in which the model can be shared, worked upon and ratified by all teams (Design, Manufacture, Construction and client), prior to start on site. This proactive approach also mitigated risk throughout the project whilst increasing quality, creating more opportunities within the key Pre-Construction process to formulate efficient solutions (as opposed to a reactive, on-site approach that can result in delays and, consequently, cost implications and unwanted variations). Reducing the overall risk enabled Baxall to create more stable construction costs due to the improved understanding and certainty of sequencing, processes and quantities – and crucially ensured Baxall designed to KCC’s strict budget.

The team designed the Pavilion to be built using a modular construction solution manufactured by Integra. This system provided a turnkey solution to the Pavilion with the modules manufactured in a factory-controlled environment and craned into final position on site. By using this system, the main Pavilion structure was erected and watertight in just three days. From delivery to site to handover, Baxall completed the Pavilion in 12 weeks.

As testimony to Baxall’s successful delivery of this impressive community project Baxall have since secured the contract to undertake Facilities Management (FM) services across the Southborough Hub complex, including St. Andrew’s Medical Centre. In addition to providing a long-awaited new club house for Tunbridge Wells’ Youth team, the sports pavilion is proving to be a welcome facility for the Southborough and High Brooms community and is available to hire for private functions. The facility has since been renamed the Ridgemont Pavilion.