Carnival Hub recognised for excellence in construction

Wokingham Borough Council is delighted to have once again been recognised by the Constructing Excellence Awards – this time for the Carnival Hub project.

The council was named Client of the Year at last year’s awards, and was a finalist in the Modern Methods of Construction and Net Zero Construction categories.

This year, the council has been named as a finalist for the Sustainability and Project of the Year awards, with both entries for the achievements at Carnival Hub, Wokingham’s flagship community building.

The hub, which opened in July last year, is home to the new Wokingham Leisure Centre and Wokingham Library.

It has swimming pools, a health suite, 120-station fitness suite, a café and dual-purpose hall for sports or cultural performances.

A project in partnership

Carnival Hub was put forward for the awards by HLM Architects, the master planning and landscape architects, and project manager Faithful+Gould.

The council also worked on this project with contractor Pelikaan Construction and Roberts Limbrick, the sport, leisure and community architects.

Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of the council, said: “The Carnival Hub has not even been open a year and already it has brought a lot of joy and opportunities to our residents.

"It is also a great example of what we want to achieve as a council to address the climate emergency, with sustainability being a key pillar to our work.

“Thank you to our partners HLM Architects, Faithful+Gould, Pelikaan Construction and Roberts Limbrick, for not only putting Carnival Hub forward for the awards, but for playing a huge part in making the hub such a special facility.”

Example of excellence across the South East

Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure, said: “We were delighted to be a finalist in three categories of the Constructing Excellence Awards last year and we went onto win the Client of the Year.

"We hope to replicate that success this year by picking up an award to reflect the incredible amount of work and passion that went into the project.”         

The awards recognise excellence in the built environment across London and the South East.

There are 15 categories at this year’s awards, which are being held on Thursday 29 June at a ceremony in London.

Energy efficient while meeting residents' needs

The hub was the result of extensive consultation with local businesses and residents to deliver high-quality leisure facilities, as well as a substantial reduction in energy use compared to the previous centre.

It represented the council’s desire to build one of the most energy-efficient leisure centres in the UK and a vast improvement on the old site in Wellington Road.

Features include solar PV panels and a fully electric heating system fed by air source heat pumps on the roof, as well as a very high-performance building fabric.

All of these changes saw the carbon efficiency improved by more than two thirds when compared to the old leisure centre.

Actions that contributed to the reduction of the base energy rate included:

• Enhancing the thermal performance
• Managing external glazing to balance user activity with solar gains and heat loss
• Reducing the area of external fabric and the building volume

After the council declared a climate emergency in 2019, the project was reviewed to ensure it met the desire to do everything possible to reduce carbon emissions.

The hub made it to the finals of the Thames Valley Property Awards last year in the Development of the Year category, further recognising the project’s environmental credentials.