Manor Place
- Client: Palace Skateboarding
- Architect: JAM Architects and Whitepaper
- Contacts: Jess Parulian
- LPA: London Borough of Southwark
The redevelopment of Manor Place involves the refurbishment of a unique Victorian building to provide a vibrant hub for sport, creativity, and community. It features a one-of-a-kind underground football pitch and skatepark that are open to the community.
The Manor Place Baths is a former public baths, swimming pool, and boxing venue. The late-19th-century Victorian structure is a Grade II listed building with a rich history of recreational use. The development retains and sensitively conserves the Bath House, Wash House, and Main Building for new offices, creative studios, gallery space, and a multi-use sports facility.
The redevelopment is a collaboration between Palace Skateboards, founded in Southwark, and Nike. In the former public baths, a world-class polished concrete skatepark sits with ramps, ledges, and benches directly above an underground football cage. A protective membrane preserves the original swimming pool, and the innovative design responds directly to the impressive scale and space of the original Bath House. The materials chosen reflect the architectural features of the existing structure, including trussed columns and granite paving.
The Residency, located in the former Wash House, offers studio space to emerging creatives free of charge. They have the opportunity to exhibit their work in the Front Room gallery space located in the main building. The Front Room will host workshops, panel talks, and pop-ups. This unique community offering empowers the next generation of creative talent and provides a space for collaboration.
The Main Building has been carefully restored into offices for Palace. The scheme repurposes a building with heritage significance while greatly reducing embodied carbon compared to the construction of a new building. A careful balance is struck between protecting the original building fabric and improving energy efficiency. Further sustainable measures include the use of low-carbon heating systems, enhanced lighting and air-source heat pumps.
