CONTRACT VALUE
£7,500,000
THE CLIENT
Havering Council
CONSTRUCTION PERIOD
14 Months
THE CONTRACTOR
Piper Hill
Project Gallery
Rainham Leisure Centre
ReCreation were the real driving force in making sure that the centre delivered what it needed to do for the end user. It’s a really, really successful project and one that should be looked at as a kind of blueprint for other centres in the future.
Tom Fletcher – Area Contract Manager - Everyone Active
Scheme Journey
Creating Rainham Leisure Centre
01
The
Vision
A Leisure Destination Designed
Around Community
Rainham Leisure Centre was conceived to replace the ageing Chafford Sports Complex and provide Havering with a modern, future-ready leisure destination. With one of London's fastest-growing communities, the Council recognised the need for a facility that could meet increasing demand while promoting healthier lifestyles and delivering long-term value.
Working alongside Havering Council from the earliest stages, ReCreation helped shape a vision that extended beyond the building itself. The ambition was to create a destination that would sit naturally within its surroundings, strengthen community wellbeing and provide a sustainable leisure asset for generations to come.
Designing With
the Landscape
Every successful project begins by asking better questions. Through early feasibility, stakeholder engagement and collaborative planning, ReCreation helped shape a solution that responded to both the needs of the community and its surroundings.
Guided by the principle of being part of the park, not on the park, the design introduced new outdoor activity spaces, a children's playground, landscaped public areas and an orchard, while integrating biodiversity features such as swift nesting boxes to enhance the wider environment.
02
Challenging
Convention
03
ReCreation
Collective
One Integrated
Leisure Collective
At the heart of every ReCreation project is an established collective of specialist organisations, brought together under one integrated delivery model. Combining expertise in architecture, engineering, project management, cost consultancy and aquatic innovation, the ReCreation Collective works seamlessly from the earliest stages of every project.
For Rainham, this collaborative approach ensured every discipline contributed to a single shared vision, creating certainty throughout planning, design and delivery while providing Havering Council with one trusted development partner from concept through to completion.
Turning Vision
into Reality
With the vision established, ReCreation continued to coordinate the project through detailed design, stakeholder engagement and delivery, ensuring every stage remained aligned with Havering Council's operational, commercial and community priorities.
The result is a modern leisure centre delivered using innovative construction methods that improved programme certainty, supported operational efficiency and created a facility designed to perform well into the future.
04
Delivery
in Action
05
Beyond
Construction
A Lasting Legacy
for Rainham
Rainham Leisure Centre is more than a replacement facility. It is a lasting investment in community health, wellbeing and sustainable leisure provision.
From increasing access to swimming and fitness to enhancing biodiversity and creating new public spaces, the project demonstrates how integrated thinking and collaborative delivery can create places that continue generating social, environmental and commercial value long after construction is complete.
Facts, Features & Benefits
25 METRE 6 LANE
SWIMMING POOL
75 STATION FITNESS SUITE
A SHORTER CONSTRUCTION TIME
YOGA & DANCE STUDIO
OPENED IN
MAY 2023
STATE OF THE ART SPIN STUDIO
ABOVE GROUND
POOL
SIGNIFICANT CAPITAL SAVING FOR THE CLIENT
SOCIAL VALUE &
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
HEALTHIER
COMMUNITY WELLBEING
FULLY INTEGRATED PROJECT TEAM
