Council consults on vision for future of Brixton

[Brixton Hatter]

I do like the Rec a lot. And use it quite a lot.

Yet it is a very oddly laid-out building with lots of wasted internal space.

The walkway at reception level, with its accompanying trough arrangement, is just bizarre.

Still, that does not mean I'd knock it down.

Yeah, I'd agree with all that. Surely the entrance could be remodelled and some minor alterations made internally? The alternative would be to knock the whole thing down, taking years and costing tens of millions of pounds.

 

[leanderman]

Exactly, not to mention the environmental madness of knocking down a relatively new building.

Rendering over and whitening some of the internal red brick walls might help, at a cosmetic level, to lift the gloom.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Exactly, not to mention the environmental madness of knocking down a relatively new building.

Rendering over and whitening some of the internal red brick walls might help, at a cosmetic level, to lift the gloom.

Of course, our simple and cheap solution would not allow the extensive building of private flats on the upper floors of the rec...

 

[Tricky Skills]

The suggestion to re-build the Rec seems strange given the recent investment in refurbishment. £2.85m was spent by Lambeth Council in 2007, plus a second refurbishment was then required at the start of April 2010 for the changing rooms (can't find the figures...)

 

[gaijingirl]

It's blatantly obvious they just want to make a packet building flats right by Brixton Village and in the event completely change the atmosphere of central Brixton. All the atmosphere and joyfulness that attracted all these people here in the first place and that others have contributed over the years will be destroyed when it's filled with large chain stores and "luxury" flats...

 

[Tricky Skills]

Building a leisure centre is a costly business. Clapham was financed with the sale of council owned land to the private sector. The £80m scheme in partnership with the Cathedral Group and Notting Hill Housing Trust tells you about the price that private investors are prepared to pay for this prime land.

199 new private homes now stand on the previously owned council land. In return the community gets a leisure centre for free.

A price worth paying?

 

[gaijingirl]

we've got a leisure centre!

not having a go at you Tricky - just feeling a bit depressed with the way things are going with all these pubs becoming Tescos etc and now maybe the Rec land? I'm off down there now to cheer myself up a bit.

 

[Frumious B.]

Does anyone know the level of utilisation of the sports facilities at the Rec? The pool seems busy, but what about the other stuff? I know that the shooting range is just used for storage. I think it's been that way for years - such a waste. With all this Olympics legacy stuff and the money being invested in sport, is there scope for some initiative to use the range and any other underutilised facilities more heavily, get some coaches to seek out future OIympians in the borough, get Sport England to help with grants for the building maintenance...that sort of thing. GB does quite well at shooting, but only toffs seem to take it up. I'm imagining a club based at the Rec, called the Brixton Rifles, going to schools and encouraging twelve year olds to have a tryout and train for the Rio Olympics. Could it work?