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“… a building that would have cost £2.25 million had it been built by conventional methods has been realised for £1.5 million … SCABAL’s real achievement is that it has produced a building as exotic and engaging as you could hope to realise on twice the budget.”

Ellis Woodman, Building Design, Thursday 11th June 2009

Our new sports hall designed for Dunraven School in the London Borough of Lambeth is the first to be built in this way anywhere in the world. We have used sea containers as both structure and internal accommodation to create an extremely simple and cost effective building that captures the participatory excitement of sports. A multi-purpose community facility that gives the school the best indoor sporting environment they could wish for, “so much more than a boring shed”.

The look of the building is industrial, but SCABAL has designed windows that subtly undermine this using an immediately recognisable back garden architectural motif: the greenhouse; continued internally with the trowel and the wheelbarrow. The glazing allows glimpses of activity within the hall from the outside, connecting the building with the neighbourhood – something too often lacking in the ubiquitous brick box sports hall.

The carefully considered orientation of the building with the north elevation comprising an arrangement of translucent polycarbonate panels and clear glazing and the alignment of the ‘greenhouses’ with the internal openings in the galleries, all allow the interior to be flooded with natural daylight. This also makes the space suitable for exams, assemblies and other events.

At night, when the hall becomes available for community use as a sports facility or a multi-purpose hall, this composition of openings makes the street frontage of the building glow while the lit-up window shapes around the sides further animate the form.

Project  DUNRAVEN SPORTS HALL, Dunraven Secondary School,
              Upper School Site, 94-98 Leigham Court Road, Streatham, London  SW16 38B   

Client  LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMBETH, Children and Young People’s Services

Accommodation  THREE-STOREY BUILDING
             Full-height 4 courts (18m x 33m): 600 m2
                Ground floor girls and boys and hanging rooms: 150 m2
                   First floor gym and viewing gallery: 230 m2
                      Second floor viewing gallery without fit-out : 220 m2

Contract Value  £1,500,000 (approx £1,300 per sqm)

Funding BSF Intermediate works budget, Dunraven School budget, Sport England

Procurement  Design and Build Contract (JCT DB05)

Programme  Outline / Detailed Proposals: Nov 2007 - January 2008
              Planning Submission: January 2008
                 Final Proposals: March - April 2008
                    Planning Permission granted: April 2008
                       Order placed: May 2008
                          Production Information: May - July 2008
                             Off-site container fit-out: July - October 2008
                                Groundworks: July - August 2008
                                   On-site construction: November 2008 - March 2009

Team  School Principal: David Boyle
              School Finance Director: Micon Metcalfe
                 BSF Programme Manager: Sylvester Eyong
                    Architect: SCABAL, June 2007 - April 2008
                       Employers’ Agent: SCABAL, April 2008 - May 2010
                          Quantity Surveyors: Keegans
                             Structures Engineers: The Furness Partnership
                                Building Services Engineers: CBG Consultants
                                   CDM co-ordinator: Baily Garner H&S
                                      Contractor: Container City; Urban Space Management

Published  “Living in a box” Presented by Maxwell Hutchinson, Inside Out, BBC1,
      Wednesday 18th February 2009, 7.30pm
              Building Design, Thursday 11th June 2009
                 The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 13th June 2009

Awards British Construction Industry Awards 2009 Winner: Small Building Project Award;
      Any building scheme valued under £3 million
              Building Awards 2010 Finalist
                 RIBA Awards 2010 Finalist

References  Micon Metcalfe (School Finance Director) e info@dunraven-school.org.uk t 020 8677 2431