About Us

Through our Construction business we deliver residential and non-residential projects. That includes building projects in the leisure and culture sector, including hotels, theatres, libraries, leisure centres and mixed-use developments.

Construction’s network of local company offices (LCOs) across England and Wales, each with its own MD, provides national coverage with a local team. This gives customers the close attention and relationship with their LCO team right up to MD level; just one reason clients opt to work with us again, and again! The leisure sector is managed nationwide from our Cobham office – a mere 30 minutes from central London.

Our business has 86 years’ experience in the wet leisure sector and has delivered 161 leisure facilities in the past ten years, with several winning awards for design and innovation. We’ve delivered 61 pools including more Olympic size facilities than any other contractor in the UK.

About
Stephen Parker

“I have worked in the leisure sector since August 1986, and have seen many changes! There has been so much progress, but we still have a way to go.

Originally I worked designing gymnasiums, then moved to the management of health clubs, running three simultaneously before making the move to working in business development for Willmott Dixon as their national Leisure Sector Lead. This appealed to me as I believe in the Willmott Dixon ethos of building flexible, sustainable centres that create social spaces whilst delivering income objectives. Working collaboratively with our partners and customers and actualising Government objectives to provide exemplary facilities in the heart of the community is what drives me.

I very nearly made it as a professional footballer and still play regularly – I’m enthused by the importance of the health and wellbeing agenda and the momentum it’s gaining in the UK. I love being a part of the vanguard of the leisure sector: it’s fantastic to be able to combine my passion with my career and share it with our customers.”

Our Partners

Inspired to change the industry, Willmott Dixon align themselves with consultant partners who share their culture and vision and have a passion to constantly evolve.

The Design Consortium is powered by the best architects, structural and MEP engineers, working together to drive innovation, collaboration and communication.

At the heart of the consortium is the desire to improve the way we work to design and deliver outstanding results for our customers, our people, our product, our legacy and our growth.

Innovation

The leisure facilities of tomorrow are being realised today.

At Willmott Dixon we are at the forefront of new innovations and technologies for smarter, more efficient ways to run a leisure environment in the future. Whether this means no more chemicals in pools, with the use of Sphagnum Moss to clean and filter the water, or making financial savings for our customers through linked gym products to create kinetic energy for lighting, we are always seeking new ways to improve our offering.

We continually seek to find opportunities to integrate meaningful, practical innovations that demonstrably add value for our customers.

expert design
with you in mind

Willmott Dixon have partnered with GT3, leading architects in sport and leisure design, to give you a unique service when embarking on a new build or refurbishment.

For example, crowd modelling programmes and sustainable features offer a fresh approach to design and through lessons learnt and post occupancy feedback, our collective experience in leisure allows us to work together and produce designs that meet and exceed your expectations. We can also assess long term lifecycle and post occupancy evaluation costings based on real data from supply chain collaboration, asset management and/or condition surveying to offer feasibility options that focus not just on cost, but long term value through lowered operating costs and increased revenue potential. We are always happy to discuss these options.

Core+, the pre-designed leisure solution created in partnership between Willmott Dixon and GT3, offers a customisable standardised offering, without compromising on quality. This provides our customers a way to provide vital leisure and wellbeing facilities in the heart of communities at a much lower cost than traditional methods of construction.

BIM

A new industrial revolution is here – and it’s powered by data.

BIM is our switch from analogue to digital and it’s helping us deliver faster, smarter and better for our customers. All of our projects are now delivered at BIM Level 2.

Hart Leisure Centre (£24m)

Hart Leisure Centre is another example of our work to deliver a flagship facility for a local authority to improve the wellness of the local community.

On this occasion, our team of construction specialists replaced the existing Hart Leisure Centre with a new facility featuring an eight-lane 25-metre swimming pool, climbing wall and eight-court sports hall.

The centre gives people access to a 120 station gym, climbing wall, coffee shop, multiple sports pitches and sports hall. The distinctive exterior roof is clad with weathered copper standing seam roof sheets. Inside, the pool hall has a tied arch roof featuring aluminium perforated acoustic deck and suspended African Ayous timber with the latter specified by the customer.

Gosport Leisure Centre (£7.3m)

This project involved the redevelopment of an existing leisure complex in Gosport. The new centre was created as part of the new Holbrook Recreation Park.

The new leisure centre consisted of a two-storey steel framed, Kingspan clad/rendered building. The centre contained a 25 metre pool, learner pool, four-court sports hall, fitness suite, dance studio and associated changing/shower facilities on both levels.

Middlesbrough Sports Village (£21m)

Willmott Dixon recently delivered six new schools for Middlesbrough as part of its BSF programme and this Sports Village sees the company continue its work with the council to transform the town’s community infrastructure.

Middlesbrough Sports Village is a top-class venue for local, regional and national level competition in sports such as athletics, cycling, basketball, futsal, netball, roller hockey, rugby and football.

Our work included a polymeric, 400m, eight lane floodlit athletics track and spectator grandstand, full sized all-weather football pitch and a four 5-a-side football pitches. As part of the second phase, a 250m outdoor velodrome will complement the existing track facilities.

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre (£38m)

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, named by local residents because of its proximity to the canal and local brook, the Bearbrook, is the centrepiece for Aylesbury with a design that is as dramatic as the performances it puts on.

The appearance reflects the undulating Chiltern Hills nearby, with the architect, Arts Team, saying the 106 glulam beams around the building create a “forest of fins” echoing the ancient woodlands nearby. It stands on a concrete base that rises and falls like a rollercoaster, with the timber beams each one unique rising out to support the glass facade.

The theatre has a 1,200 seat auditorium that converts into a 1800 capacity hall. It can also become a 220 seat suite for smaller events including dance, drama, meetings and conferences.

Travelodge City of London (£2m)

Willmott Dixon Interiors collaborated closely with the client Travelodge to deliver this conversion of an existing office block into a 75-bedroom hotel.

Located at Bank, in the heart of the City of London, the project was an extremely constrained site. Due to the confined external space and the proximity to the neighbouring buildings, which included wine bars, restaurants, offices and flats, Willmott Dixon Interiors had to implement a complex logistical plan.

This meant minimal disruption to the tenants of the surrounding buildings, both in relation to noise during the demolition and construction period, and deliveries of materials.

All rooms were fitted out to the clients branding requirements. Willmott Dixon Interiors coordinated the installation of all FF&E to ensure that the hotel opened within two days of practical completion.

University of Bedfordshire Library (£19m)

Willmott Dixon were proud to deliver The University of Bedfordshire’s new library on their Luton campus.

Although called the ‘Library’, it’s more akin to an all-in-one centre for learning, studying and socialising. It is spread over seven floors incorporating 7,400 sq metres of space with a bridge link connecting it to the rest of the University’s Luton campus. The iconic building is a unique and recognisable landmark in Luton town centre.

The new library development has a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ using a host of energy efficient features such as high levels of thermal insulation, automatic switching of lighting including daylight and occupancy sensing and reduced air leakage. Also, an impressive 99% of waste from the project was diverted from landfill.

We always make sure that we involve local communities where ever possible in our projects and were delighted to work with the Prince’s Trust to offer placements to 3 people to provide work experience and new skills.

Dorsett City Hotel, London (£14m)

Dorsett City, London, is a great example of our high end hotel expertise.

Built on a very tight site next to Aldgate tube station and the 18th century St Botolph Church, it is our first project for Dorsett Hospitality International, which operates 22 hotels around the world, including eight in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK, providing over 8,600 rooms in total.

This is only the second Dorsett hotel in London and replaced the former The Matrix building in Aldgate. Opening in 2017, it provides 270 bedrooms along with restaurant, fitness centre and 1,600 sq ft of meeting areas for the business community in a brilliant location.

Brentford FC (£30m)

Willmott Dixon’s development skills through Regen are being used with Brentford FC to deliver a 20,000 seat stadium, cross funded by 900 new homes at two sites close to Kew Bridge in west London. This will create one of London’s biggest communities of new homes built for sale and private rent.

Substantial improvements to the public realm will include extensive landscaping and greenery across the site, new pedestrian and cycle routes – including dedicated and widened routes along Lionel Road South – retail outlets and on-site car and cycle parking.

On completion of the stadium, Brentford FC – nicknamed ‘the Bees’ – will relocate from Griffin Park. Prime Place has already secured full planning consent to develop a further 75 two, three, four, and five-bedroom family houses for private sale on the Griffin Park site, including a memorial garden to celebrate the history of the football ground.