Cochrane Park Sports Pavilion

Robertson North East England has provided the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with increased and enhanced sports facilities at Cochrane Park.

In the past this site was used as a training venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, however a decline in usage led to a much-needed update being carried out. Our involvement in this project consisted of:

• a refurbishment of the existing 1930's changing pavilion;
• the construction of a new modern changing block extension;
• the addition of a new gym facility;
• three new 3G sports pitches with fencing and pitch lighting;
• the creation of ample car park provision.

We brought in IBA (Ian Belsham Associates) Architects to design the project including the new changing block which sits alongside the existing 1930's changing pavilion, creating a contrasting yet complementary appearance between the traditional and modern designs.

The new gym facility was constructed with a specific ergometer training centre for the University's indoor rowing club along with multipurpose areas catering to a variety of sporting activities.

We successfully engaged the adjacent occupants through community development to address the original floodlighting design which resulted in light 'spillage', impacting on neighbouring properties. Our solution for this was to incorporate Halliday's tier design and light fittings to restrict any light to be within the boundary of the site. Acoustic fencing has also been incorporated to reduce the level of noise from sporting activities disturbing the local community.

Along with the 3G pitches, we created new access to the facilities and provided more parking and landscaping to the site. Our addition of these features to the existing sports pavilion at Cochrane Park will benefit the university, it will generate additional revenue through hiring the all-weather pitches to the general public during evenings.