Greening Leisure Centres: Roundtable discussions on new build and retrofit solutions

Passivhaus and Sustainability for New Build Leisure Centres

As local authorities grapple with the urgent need to decarbonise their assets to reduce carbon emissions and abide by the UK Government’s Net Zero 2050 strategy, leisure centres, have become a focal point due to their energy inefficiency and associated high operational costs.  

There are over 2,700 leisure centres in the UK and more than two thirds are thought to be past their expected lifespans or overdue refurbishment, putting them high on the priority list for decarbonisation.

To discuss these issues and potential solutions for decarbonisation, AtkinsRéalis recently hosted a roundtable event in our London office which themed ‘Passivhaus and Sustainability for New Build Leisure Centres’.

The topic prompted thoughtful consideration on the most effective strategies for local authorities to tackle the challenges of decarbonising leisure centres and saw in-depth discussion from the assembled industry experts and various local authorities – all of whom agreed that that they are committing to Net Zero Carbon by 2030 in order to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

In the context of new build leisure centres, it is essential sustainability is incorporated into design facilitated by environmental certifications such as BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) which is an approach for measuring the environmental performance and impact of buildings on communities. 

As a recognised industry certification that sets standards for best environmental design and management practices, BREEAM measures aspects such as energy, waste and pollution to rate a building’s sustainability. However, while BREEAM is the most common environmental certification for new build leisure centres (due to comparatively low financial commitments), it can sometimes wrongly be used as a tick box exercise by developers without utilising the framework to hone design and drive forward sustainability objectives and metrics. 

This is particularly relevant for local authorities where BREEAM ‘Very Good’ and ‘Excellent’ can be achieved at approximately 0.25% - 0.75% of the construction capital cost making it an attractive option in a step towards decarbonisation. 

The roundtable questioned whether BREEAM really is the best route to decarbonisation considering the complexities of leisure centres as it became apparent that Passivhaus was much preferred over BREEAM in the decarbonisation of new build leisure centres. 

Passivhaus is a voluntary standard for building energy efficiency that adopts a whole-building approach with clear, measured targets, focused on high-quality construction, certified through a demanding quality assurance process. Passivhaus’ rigorous standards serve as an exciting route to decarbonisation where air tightness and building efficiency measures are extensively studied by the Passivhaus Institute, both very relevant to the leisure sector. 

This rigorous approach helps to ensure an estimation of operational energy use and savings - which a subject matter expert (SME) noted had been 99% accurate on a previous project.  

Compared to BREEAM ‘Excellent’, the same SME explained that Passivhaus will save 50%-60% more energy at a leisure centre due to the level of airtightness within the building envelope reducing heat loss and therefore increasing CO2 savings. 

One of the challenges in taking a Passivhaus approach is the considerable stakeholder contribution required; the roundtable SME’s experience was an uplift of between 7-10% of capital costs. Many local authorities cannot afford this upfront cost, especially considering the long payback period and the volatile economic environment.  

Given the prevailing market conditions, some of the local authorities expressed an interest in pursuing “decarboniszation on a budget”. This involves blending certain Passivhaus principles with the BREEAM 'Excellent' standards for the construction of new leisure centres. 

This approach not only circumvents the significant initial expenses associated with Passivhaus standards but also places greater emphasis on the design team to undertake innovative measures tailored specifically to decarbonise the leisure centre, preceding the fulfilment of BREEAM's criteria. 

Overall, the roundtable discussion hosted by AtkinsRéalis confirmed the financial pressures many local authorities are under where an affordable route to decarbonisation is often necessary. 

To overcome this challenge, the roundtable called for a financial metric quantifying the value leisure centres would bring to health, social wellbeing, economic, and environmental benefits to be a top agenda item for the UK Government to consider. It is hoped this would provide further investment in sustainability and energy efficient buildings after realising the importance of decarbonisation measures. 

Further, the roundtable called for an ambitious Net Zero Carbon UK Building Standard to be implemented by government, which would mandate stakeholders to commit to standards similar to ‘Passivhaus principles’, that prioritise decarbonisation throughout the design, construction and lifecycle of leisure centre assets. 

Retrofit for Decarbonisation in Leisure Centres

Following on from our initial roundtable looking at the approach to building new leisure centres, AtkinsRéalis hosted a second roundtable in March 2024, inviting several local authorities and subject matter experts to discuss Retrofit for Decarbonisation in Leisure Centres. 

In the UK today, leisure centres act as a pressing beacon for decarbonisation through refurbishment, with over 70% nearing their end-of-life condition imminently. As drivers of regeneration and growth in community hubs creating environmental and social value gains, there is a strong business cases for investment. 

Typically, a retrofit project would see a fabric-first approach where investment is focussed on measures such as cavity wall insulation, double glazing and dry wall lining to improve air tightness and reduce heat loss to result in consumption and cost savings. This is especially true in wet leisure centres, where fabric considerations to prevent thermal bridging, condensation, and damp are critical to asset longevity.  

With many complexities of leisure centre operation and ownership taking place between the local authority and operator and the way each stakeholder prioritises their use, the roundtable concluded that a fabric-first approach may not always be the primary solution. 

For example, if the operator of the leisure centre is responsible for the cost of utilities, the operator will prioritise saving costs for example by turning off ventilators and limiting peak demand times even if this risks building deterioration and mould.  

While this approach would benefit the operator through decreased operation costs, it is the local authority that is responsible for the building so the building-neglect risk this would entail, would be felt by them. The local authority, often responsible for the building fabric and structure, prioritises maximising the social and physical well-being of the public through high-quality and functional assets.

The escalating cycle of neglect and shifting responsibility to evade retrofit costs has resulted in the closure of nearly 400 leisure centres with pools since 2010.   

To help public sector bodies overcome the financial struggles associated with retrofit and decarbonisation, Salix Finance’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), endorsed and funded by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, has become a valued route to decarbonisation in existing buildings. 

To qualify for grant money, applicants to the PSDS must be replacing an end-of-life fossil fuel heating plant with a new low carbon alternative and a combined whole building approach including energy efficiency measures and building fabric upgrades. 

When raised in discussion at the roundtable, several local authorities voiced the challenges in committing to the PSDS’s criteria of a whole building approach for leisure centres and would prefer to opt for a fabric-light alternative to minimise their grant contribution due to increased project costs (applicants must match fund at least 12% of total project costs). 

This would in turn minimise the operational impacts with closure of leisure centre sites during deep refurbishment further affecting the revenue that could be generated during this time. One local authority at the roundtable even expressed how their council had a non-investment policy due to political uncertainty and financial constraints, stating “local government are not looking to buy into something large at the moment, we’re just looking for small fixes to make the next budget”.  

With such significant challenges facing the leisure centre sector, there is a hesitancy around committing large-scale investment into refurbishment. The roundtable discussed alternative methods to decarbonisation which shone a light on co-location and energy master planning, exemplified brilliantly by the likes of Germany’s self-serving energy communities. This is where organisations join an energy network to utilise and share heat resources, balancing heat demand across multiple asset types, enabling the system to efficiently allocate heat generation and waste heat. 

The roundtable participants commented how this could create incredible efficiencies if leisure centres were to be paired with certain developments such as housing and data centres. Using the example, by running a heat pump continuously and looking at the peak demands of homes in the morning and offices in the afternoon, leisure centres can help plug this gap with their flexible operation and peak demand times depending on usage.  

By including energy intensive data centres (that are likely to cause a six-fold surge in energy demand over the next decade in the UK) in co-location and master planning, waste heat can be utilised across the system to facilitate the demands of different buildings. 

Here, local authority representatives seemed optimistic to strike deals with data centres to plug the heating requirement of leisure centres with large amounts of surplus heat generated from their operation. Some local authorities were even explaining how they were actively looking to recruit data centres to unconventional places like car parks to feel the benefits of direct colocation. This, in turn, could decrease capital expenditure on decarbonisation efforts, as data centres may have excess energy supply that they seek to offload or share costs with through the use of heat networks. 

To overcome the operational and financial challenges of deep retrofit on existing leisure centres that so many local authorities are unwilling to risk, AtkinsRéalis’ roundtable discussion shone a light on alternatives such as co-location and prioritising a circular energy economy.  Not only were these solutions seen as the most feasible based on the functionalities of leisure centres, but the potential to create a circular energy economy where waste usage is eliminated outlines a promising step towards decarbonisation beyond the challenges of retrofit.

For more information about our work in this sector, please contact:

Leesa Messett
Sport & Leisure Sector Lead AtkinsRéalis 
E - [email protected]
M- 07802 781 797