Plans for new sports hall set for approval

Huddersfield University wants permission to demolish the sports hall on its Queensgate campus and replace it with modern facilities including dance studio, squash courts, fitness and sports areas, student union facilities, offices and learning space.

A Kirklees Council planning report says the plans should be given the go ahead. Councillors will discuss the proposals today.

Critics have expressed dissatisfaction with the design of the new building.

One unnamed objector has told the council that the development would be “unbelievably incongruous”.

And Huddersfield Civic Society said: “The large, overwhelming windowless structure of the proposed sports hall when viewed from Wakefield Road would seriously harm the setting of the Grade II* listed former canal warehouse (Sir John Ramsden Court) which is only 22m to the north.”

Civic society representatives say that the site occupies a key gateway into the town centre and would be ideal for a “landmark” building.

“A large, blue mesh box on stilts is hardly the landmark building of contemporary design to which the applicant aspires. This type of building would have been better sited in the interior of the campus rather than this key junction.”

The planning report concludes: “The council’s conservation and design team have assessed the impact of the proposal and raise no objection to the proposed contemporary design which includes the use of render, glazing and an aluminium mesh box as opposed to natural stone.

“Whilst the proposal is a bold design, it is considered the location demands such a treatment providing a quality landmark building that responds to the context of the site.”