UKC

I'm a staff member at the University of Warwick (not based in the Sports Centre) who is also a regular user of the Bear Rock climbing facilities on the campus. In case you're not aware, the University is planning to build a new Sports Centre on the campus which is to replace the current main Sports Centre building from Autumn 2018 (the existing Sports Centre and climbing facilities will remain open until the new Sports Centre is ready to open):
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/estates/services/projects/timeline/sport...

I've just attended one of the campus exhibitions earlier this afternoon and was able to get a bit more information about the proposed new climbing facilities, but I understand there is still scope for a bit of change to them. Whilst the outside of the building looks a bit nondescript, the climbing facilities are to be a main feature of the atrium in the interior of the new building. In the plans, they have provisioned enough space for the roped climbing to be doubled from the current building's 40 lines, to 80 top-rope/leading lines in the new centre, with some routes going up to 20 metres in height. There will also be separate bouldering facilities in the new building which are to be more extensive than the current facilities, but they couldn't confirm to me by how much as there is potential for some tweaking to be done to the interior layout.

The building's still subject to planning permission, and there is still some scope for amendments to the plans, particularly to the building's interior. If you'd like to have any input into the new building and facilties, the University's currently holding a consultation with staff, students and the local community on the new facilities. Feedback can be submitted online, and there's further exhibitions taking place tomorrow (16 March) both on the campus and in Kenilworth: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/estates/services/projects/timeline/sport...

In reply to philgriffiths:

I hope the new bouldering area is *considerably* bigger, the current space is ridiculously small for the amount of people that want to use it!

In reply to philgriffiths:
great to hear about the upgrade... I really hope they don't up the prices though as I think they are somewhat overpriced for the size already compared to Birmingham's offerings. ( almost double the cost if you go in the day )

In reply to philgriffiths:

Sounds good. Used to go there regularly a few years ago, but stopped due to it being overcrowded, and preferring outdoors. The new plans seem good and a new centre is definitely needed in the area.

In reply to Dandan:

I hope so too... A link to a pdf of the all the information I saw on the display panels which are being used in the exhibitions must have just gone up today (I'm pretty sure this link wasn't on the consultation page when I checked it yesterday): http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/estates/services/projects/timeline/sport...

The provisional floorplans are on page 7 of this pdf - they are a bit hard to read but you can just make out the climbing area (coloured in light grey and white) at one end of the atrium in the middle of the building. For scale, the adjacent sports hall (coloured in brown) is shown laid out for 16 badminton courts. When I spoke to one of the architects at the exhibition and he was keen to make clear that the precise configuration of the climbing facilities hadn't been confirmed, but in his provisional plans they'd put in an elongated triangular island space in the middle of the climbing area that could be used for bouldering, but this arrangement was to be confirmed.

I don't know if a specialist climbing wall contractor (someone like Bendcrete/Entre-Prises/Walltopia etc) had been engaged yet to advise the project team on the best use of the space that had been provisioned for climbing, but I'd strongly encourage climbers who are likely to use the new centre to fill in the consultation feedback form as this is probably the best way to emphasise the need for considerably more bouldering than what we have in the existing building: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/estates/services/projects/timeline/sport...

The deadline for feedback is 4th April, but I'd advise completing the form asap!

In reply to philgriffiths:

Done. . . anyone with an interest in this facility should respond to the consultation.

In reply to philgriffiths:

Done, it's far too small! More specifically, it's too narrow, it's clearly been designed by a non-climber who thinks that all climbing walls are vertical, yes you might get 80 lines in there if you build it all in straight lines, but if it wants to compete with other decent walls around the country, it needs some angles.
That bouldering provision looks woefully inadequate too, if you turned the current boulder room inside out, I'd say you would have not much less bouldering space than on the new plan, they need to triple or quadruple that at least.
They need to consult with a wall builder, if they go ahead with that plan it's going to be such a waste.

In reply to Dandan:

As a climbging wall designer I agree. The number of times I'm presented with a 15m high space which is only 2m deep and they want a wall with loads of overhanging features in it is silly. Architects need to consult with wall manufacturers before they design the space the wall is to go in.

In reply to philgriffiths:

Bump.

Have your say and get a really good facility, do nothing and get something else!

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

It's going to totally depend on who reads any of this feedback. If it's thr current management we're stuffed as they are only interested on providing a facility to maximise profits from kids groups. That's where the money is. End of.

Overhangs, features and harder routes don't make more money from kids groups. In fact they take up space that could otherwise be used to set ladder routes and rake it in. The feedback from my last request from that place was 'if you don't like it you can climb somewhere else' when my request was about the posibilty of setting a couple more routes of a certain grade (of which there was only one in the whole wall).

I'll fill it out but don't hold up much hope.

In reply to philgriffiths:

Bump.

Today's the closing date of the consultation period (at least for planning). Use the links in the original e-mail to have your say.

I can update this thread with a little more information about the new 'Sports Hub'. This came from a presentation at a staff networking event on the campus this morning:

The project team for the Sports Hub is working with Venture Xtreme on the climbing facilities.

The project team very much wants facilities that will cater for climbers and boulderers of all abilities, but no final design for them has been agreed by the team yet.

The planning application is now likely to be submitted in June 2016, rather than mid-May. Assuming that all goes well, then they hope to commence building work in January 2017, with the new centre opening in October 2018.