Site Plan
Feeling Good, Inside and Out
Royal Wharf is a location literally designed to make you feel good. We want the people of the neighbourhood to be as healthy and happy as possible, and we’re creating facilities and spaces that encourage exactly that.
Working with David Morley Architects, an internationally renowned specialist in sports and leisure design, physical and psychological wellbeing has been built into the very fabric of Royal Wharf. Alongside the Riverside Park, just behind Mariner’s Quarter, will be a world-class leisure and fitness centre, fully equipped to meet the varying needs of residents.
This glossy gym and fitness facility will surpass your expectations, with beautiful design making working out a pleasure, not a chore. The airy gym will have plenty of machines for all, while the generouslysized swimming pool, steam room, sauna and jacuzzi mean you can take a holistic approach to looking and feeling good. Whether it’s splashing about in the pool with the kids, a spot of Saturday morning ‘me-time’ yoga, or training for the London Marathon, the new centre will have exactly what you need.
The centre will be a social hub too; the ideal place for people to get together and meet more of their neighbours – a London rarity. The excitement and sociable aspects of sport creates a perfect platform for bringing people together.
The Architecture of Fitness
As specialists in designing sports and leisure facilities, David Morley Architects is the ideal partner for Royal Wharf. Some of their most successful developments include:
Lord's Cricket Ground
The team’s first sports project was the ground-breaking indoor cricket school at Lord’s Cricket Ground. This deceptively simple building was the first indoor facility to use natural light to illuminate the field. For an outdoor game, this was the ideal lighting solution – and one that vastly reduced both running costs and environmental impact.
A healthy landscape
Beyond the leisure centre itself, the landscape of Royal Wharf provides fantastic opportunities to support everyone’s wellbeing. Its position by the park means the leisure centre’s expert staff will be able to take lessons and training beyond the four walls and into the outdoors. From yoga sessions under the trees to circuit training around the lawns, the park is an ideal space for sports and exercise.
More widely, the site’s paths encourage walking, running and cycling. A jog around the many gardens and along the riverfront – perhaps taking in Barrier Park and Lyle Park – will be a fun and uplifting way to take in the great outdoors. And the wider waterfront – all the way to Canary Wharf and beyond – offers a range of urban cycling adventures. We’re looking at a host of innovative possibilities for supporting wellbeing across the development – from street gyms to ongoing pop-up sports facilities and events. We’re also planning to place permanent outdoor exercise equipment at various points along the Riverside Walk.
Olympic Water Polo Stadium
The development of the London Olympic Park brought an especially high-profile commission when the firm was appointed to create the Water Polo Arena. This huge 5,000-capacity venue was praised – perhaps most of all by audiences themselves – for its sense of soul and personality.
The architects used the space to create maximum drama around the competitions, ensuring that the athletes emerged to a spectacular full view of the steeply raked audience.
Remarkably, the whole building is was created as a kit of parts that can, if required, be dismantled and recycled as material for other projects.
The Royal Parks
David Morley Architects have also delivered five projects for the Royal Parks. Among these is the masterplan for sport at Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill.
This high-profile and highly sensitive project – Regent’s Park is Grade I listed – centres around The Hub, an elegant reinvention of the traditional sports pavilion.
By understanding how different people, at different times of life, will use these spaces for different activities, David Morley Architects promise to deliver a vision that inspires, encourages and supports every variety of sports and fitness.
A healthy landscape
Beyond the leisure centre itself, the landscape of Royal Wharf provides fantastic opportunities to support everyone’s wellbeing.
Its position by the park means the leisure centre’s expert staff will be able to take lessons and training beyond the four walls and into the outdoors. From yoga sessions under the trees to circuit training around the lawns, the park is an ideal space for sports and exercise.
More widely, the site’s paths encourage walking, running and cycling. A jog around the many gardens and along the riverfront – perhaps taking in Barrier Park and Lyle Park – will be a fun
and uplifting way to take in the great outdoors. And the wider waterfront – all the way to Canary Wharf and beyond – offers a range of urban cycling adventures. We’re looking at a host of innovative possibilities for supporting wellbeing across the development – from street gyms to ongoing pop-up sports facilities and events. We’re also planning to place permanent outdoor exercise equipment at various points along the Riverside Walk.
Riverside Walk
Running alongside the Thames for almost a kilometre, Royal Wharf ’s landscaped Riverside Walk is perfect for jogging, cycling or simply a relaxed stroll.
