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Lightfoot Sports Centre
As one of the first indoor sports centres to be built in the UK, and the largest timber dome in Europe at that time, Lightfoot Sports Centre was a pioneering project in every sense.
Summary
Seminal project
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Client
City and County of Newcastle upon Tyne
Size
2,800m²
Completion
1964
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne netball players in sports hall 10x11
Vision
A new era for sports and leisure facilities began in 1960, when the Government’s Albemarle Report studying youth activities prompted a building fund for 3000 social, education, sports and leisure facilities. Commissioned by Harry Lightfoot, Newcastle’s director of education, Lightfoot Sports Centre expressed the ambition of the age with a vast timber dome enveloping a multi-purpose sports hall, big enough to hold two full-size tennis courts.
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne dancers under dome g
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne fencing duel g
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne sports hall seating g
“The Lightfoot Dome produced a mine of user and management information and became FaulknerBrowns’ laboratory for sports research, with our staff using it as sportspersons and studying its performance in close consultation with the manager (our office is just a few miles away). It became clear that sports buildings had the potential to be powerful popular venues for everyone, but that this depended very much on the flexibility of the design, and on welcoming, pro-active management to attract people to take advantage of the opportunities offered.”
Bill Stonor
Partner at FaulknerBrowns, 1963-1976
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne children looking at construction site 3x2
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne roof structure under construction 3x2
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne historic photograph of domed leisure centre 3x2
Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne sports hall under construction 3x2
Harry Faulkner-Brown’s design for the structure at Lightfoot was formed out of a series of laminated timber ribs, connected by a ring beam at the dome’s apex, where an opening provided natural ventilation. Prefabricated, reinforced fibre-glass panels covering the dome allowed daylight to flood into the unobstructed sports hall.
Lightfoot’s legacy

Lightfoot Sports Centre is known today as the Walker Activity Dome and over the past 60 years its multi-purpose hall has hosted indoor sport of all kinds, as well as public rallies, spectator events and religious ceremonies.

The iconic dome helped to position the North East as a leading region for sports and recreation, and was the first of over 300 sports projects designed by FaulknerBrowns.

Lightfoot sports centre walker newcastle upon tyne historic aerial photograph 3x2

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