Leisure Centre and Theatre

A review of options for Eastwood Park Leisure Centre.

The existing ageing leisure centre and theatre facilities are poor in comparison with other authorities and are regularly suffering from the impact of closures for maintenance.

It has significantly less members than similar facilities elsewhere, with other examples attracting more than 3 times the membership .

It also has very poor energy efficiency.

A detailed appraisal has been carried out and recommended provision of a new leisure centre.

Initially, it was proposed that this be on a new site, however, at that time the Education and Accommodation Reviews had not been completed.

With the potential to close the Council HQ building and avoid the need for St Ninian’s role to increase there is now scope for the Leisure Centre to be provided in Eastwood Park.

City Deal

The City Deal proposals centre around connectivity with East Renfrewshire, in particular across the M77 between Barrhead and Newton Mearns.

It includes proposals to increase accessibility to the Dams of Darnley, creating another major park attraction for visitors which may alter how Eastwood Park is used when considered alongside other nearby parks including Rouken Glen Park and Pollok Park.

Eastwood House

This building is not included in the accommodation review as it is not office space.

However, it is recognised as a key building in Eastwood Park and currently provides facilities for the community and for weddings, albeit fairly basic facilities.

Eastwood House is recognised as playing a role in the Civic Identity of East Renfrewshire albeit of a restricted size and scale.

If the Eastwood Park Council HQ is demolished, Eastwood House has potential for enhancement and to allow a civic presence to be retained in Eastwood Park.

It may be attractive for public services including registration of births, marriages and deaths, elected members offices and council chambers to be provided in this space, also enabling facilities to be enhanced for events such as weddings

3.0 Emerging Vision

A number of options have been considered and have led to an emerging vision.

The vision is to;

•Deliver a replacement Leisure Centre and Theatre whilst increasing the amount and quality of open space.

•Enhance and reinforce the civic role of Eastwood House.

•Accommodate a new family centre.

•Enhance the setting of St Ninian’s including potential for an improved entrance and social space.

•Improve the parking and access for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

•Provide a new café and changing facilities for Giffnock Soccer Centre within the new leisure facility, along with a gallery providing views over the sports pitches.

•Create a new dynamic park which better serves the surrounding community on all levels.

Developing the Vision

Initial studies indicate potential to free up around 5 hectares of space to accommodate enhanced facilities in Eastwood Park.

Demolish Existing Leisure Centre and Theatre

This essentially allows an area of around 0.73 hectares of land to be opened up.

This comprises a building footprint of 3,300sqm along with landscaping, drop off and service access areas.

Potential to Remove Existing Council HQ Offices

This essentially allows an area of around 3 hectares of land to be opened up in a key location at the entrance to the park.

This comprises a building footprint of 835sqm along with around 60 parking spaces, drop off area, service access and existing surrounding open space and woodland which essentially only act as buffer planting to the existing HQ office.

Potential of Allotments to provide peripheral Car parking

The allotments are 0.94 hectares in area.

If staff parking for the High School could be located in the allotment area it could free up an area within the park.

Other Parking and Drop Off Areas
Further open space area can be made available in the park by reconfiguring the parking and drop off areas required for a new Leisure Centre and Theatre more efficiently.

This can also be designed to be multi purpose public space for events

Best use of this 5 hectares option is explored in a range of ways along with potential enhancements to access

New Leisure Centre and Theatre

Our proposal has explored potential for a building with a footprint of 6,500sqm (ground floor) and an overall building area of 8,000sqm (ground and first floor).

The arrangement proposed indicates very little additional external area required for drop off and service access due to the way we have developed the parking arrangement.

In essence, this allows the leisure centre and theatre building to sit on a land area of around 1 hectare.

New Civic Hub Building

Potential for a new Civic Hub building with an overall area of 3200sqm.

This building would create a large agile working office, new Council Chambers, community and business support areas in addition to creating a more attractive entrance to St Ninians and social space.

Remaining Area

This allows consideration of around 4 hectares of space for a range of things.

•Simple increase in area of open space in a key location at the entrance to the park, for example to allow a high quality children’s outdoor play area.

•Potential additional parking subject to transport assessment and review of land use model

•Potential for Leisure Centre and Theatre to increase, for example to include a curling facility.

•Potential for another use to be incorporated such as Further or Higher Education Satellite Research facilities which could be complimentary to the High School

- Potential area made available through removal of existing facilities

Remove Existing Council HQ Offices 3 Hectares
Remove Existing Leisure Centre 0.75 Hectares
Relocate Parking to Allotments 0.94 Hectares

+ Opportunities arising from area made available

New Leisure Centre and Theatre Building 0.65 Hectares
Potential High School New Entrance 0.3 Hectares
New Consolidated Parking and Arrival Zone
Additional Open Space 3 Hectares

5.0 Option 1 Masterplan Proposal with Existing HQ Retained

Option 1
Overview
This proposal for Eastwood Park is to deliver a new Leisure and Theatre facility with increased quality open space and improved access for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

The new leisure centre incorporates a 50m swimming pool with spectator seating, 3 large games halls each with 3 courts along with changing facilities, 2 fitness studios, a gym, a cafeteria and a health suite.

In addition to this an agile work space for 20 - 30 people will be integrated into the proposal.

Larger More Flexible Pool
Introduction of a 50m swimming pool will enable significantly more flexibility for lessons, events and general public use of the pool.

Flexible Games Halls / Theatre / Conference / Event Space
The 3 large games halls can be combined to offer different hall sizes and they also offer flexibility to be used as different sizes of theatre and conference space.

Flexible Social Space / Cafe
The cafeteria doubles up as a breakout space for theatre and conference uses and has an aspect over the existing sports pitches.

Flexible Fitness Studios / Community Meeting Spaces
The fitness studios can also be used as community or civic meeting spaces, with an attractive aspect over the park.

Key Works
•Demolish Existing Leisure Centre and Theatre
•New Build Leisure Centre and Theatre
•Reconfigure Existing Leisure Centre Car Park
•New School Car Park in Allotment Area
•New Central Public Realm Space

Option 1A
New Civic Hub Building
Option 1A is the same as Option 1 but with a new Civic Hub building between the new Leisure Centre and Theatre and the School (shown overleaf).

This Civic Hub will offer office facilities, community and business support, Council Chambers as well as linking the school and leisure centre.

This would benefiting from direct access to all of the new facilities including the cafeteria, flexible meeting space, flexible conference space and toilets.

Further details are described in Chapter 6