The plans for Bankside Open Spaces Trust‘s (BOST) Marlborough Sports Garden have won an award at The Festival of Place – an annual event focused on creating and working on public spaces. Each year the festival holds The Pineapples awards that celebrate the very best in placemaking, with BOST’s Marlborough plans coming top in the Future Place category.
This category recognises a masterplan, planning application, action plan or design proposal for a place. The plans for the garden were shaped in consultation with the community by architects and ASBP members Cullinan Studio and have now been submitted for planning permission – with hope to start work on the new building over the next couple of years. The project will act as a case study for ASBP’s ZAP Project (Zero Avoidable Packaging waste in construction) to understand the ability to design out packaging waste in construction and operation and how to specify and procure responsible packaging stewardship.
Developing Marlborough Sports Garden
Marlborough Sports Garden is a unique place in the area – a large sports facility that’s free to access and which offers a wide range of sports activities and events at low cost, or for free. Within walking distance are eight primary schools, the aim for the garden is to create an environment where children and young people can find it easier to eat well, exercise more, develop a love for and proficiency in many sports, and establish healthy habits for life.
BOST are already working on lots of activities to help do this on site, but know that a building will enable us to do so much more with the community – with indoor spaces a wider range of sports activities can be offered, and with proper loos and a café visiting becomes more comfortable for sports participants and spectators alike. The space will also be able to hold workshops and events, for example healthy cooking classes.
Sports facilities open to all
The new building will be accessible, with a focus on developing sports activities for SEND children and young people and adults with disabilities, older people and those living with chronic conditions.
Added to these community benefits are environmental concerns – BOST and the design team are united in their ambition to make the building as carbon neutral as possible, from the materials used, aided by ASBO’s ZAP project, to the operation of the café and sports activities.
The plans also include more greenery to create a more welcoming entrance – so everyone feels they can spend time at the site and get involved too.
BOST hopes Marlborough Sports Garden will be a hub for community participation in sport. This award is a stamp of approval for the plans, we hope the community continues to support the development of the site so we can all enjoy this award-winning space long into the future.
Also involved in the design of this site are: Engenuiti, Turkington Martin, Bristow Consulting and Cundall.
About the ZAP Project
The problem
There is little recent, substantive data and a lack of holistic understanding of the various packaging types that are used for the array of products that enter a construction site and its management both on and offsite. Construction as a sector is the second-highest consumer of plastics.
The solution
The ZAP Project will research and develop scalable solutions to help combat the prevalence of avoidable packaging plastic waste in construction, much of which is not recycled. Working with project partners, the funded project will link with real-world construction projects to build case studies and develop training and guidance that will demonstrate the positive actions the whole supply chain and sector can do, helping many organisations reach zero avoidable waste.
