The Championships, Wimbledon, staged at The All England Lawn Tennis Club, is the oldest and widely considered the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. The redevelopment of the indoor courts complex was the next major project due for completion following the successful refurbishment of No.1 Court in 2019, which provided a second retractable roof.
KEY INFORMATION
Location: London, UK
Date started: 2014
Completion date: 2022
Client type: real estate
Main capabilities: cost and commercial management
Delivering world class facilities
The new state-of-the-art facility comprises six indoor acrylic courts set beneath a feature double-curved roof structure supported by a viewing gallery, dressing rooms, lounge areas and a members’ bar. Six outdoor clay courts are set in front of the new building along with feature landscapes to enhance the Wimbledon vision of playing ‘tennis in an English Garden’.
Beneath two of the upper clay courts, a new players’ arrival area has been created which connects to the main Estate via a tunnel crossing below Somerset Road. Concealed underneath the indoor and outdoor courts, there is an extensive basement providing discreet off-road parking.
Year round the venue provides members with both indoor and outdoor tennis facilities, while during The Championships it facilitates the players’ drop off and accreditation, as well as transport and courtesy car operations.
Adaptable and sustainable
The project overcame many challenges during the construction phase, with the most significant being the COVID-19 pandemic which hit six months into the build. The project team were able to adapt and remain agile while ensuring construction works continued to progress under the appropriate controls.
Sustainability is also key to the project. The new facility acts as an energy centre serving the wider Estate and spearheads the All England Club’s ambition of becoming environment positive by 2030. The project was designed to be the most sustainable building in their portfolio and includes heat pumps, PV cells on the roof, as well as a naturally ventilated tennis hall controlled with automatic opening vents within the façade.
A digital first approach
We were appointed to provide full cost management services throughout the lifecycle of the project, from feasibility stage to completion.
The project was one of the first to be tendered on our new eTender system and helped to ensure maximum efficiency was achieved during procurement. The system tracks and stores all the information in one easy and accessible digital location with over 3,500 tender documents uploaded and provides users with immediate access to respond to tender queries.
The project was delivered by our site-based team in parallel to completing an ongoing programme of works around the Estate, providing a new players’ practice facility, upgrades to hospitality and debenture suites, along with the Centre Court upgrade celebrating its centenary year in the current location of Church Road.
