Jarrow Focus, South Tyneside

Jarrow Focus is a community facility based in Jarrow which is operated and ran by South Tyneside Council. The building was fully refurbished in 2019 to renew and update the existing facilities. The building was also thermally upgraded and low carbon energy systems introduced to reduce its carbon footprint as part of the Councils drive to reduce energy usage.

Gradon Architecture were employed to redesign and remodel the existing building to enhance the original Library, Sports Hall, Gymnasium and Theatre.

The proposed redevelopment was to provide new a state of the art IT resource Library and high intensity Gymnasium. The revised plans also introduced Dance studios, meeting rooms, and Bar Area providing local residents a community space to keep fit, socialise and learn.

Sine Consulting were appointed by the M&E contractors under a Design and Build Arrangement to provide detailed M&E design services from Stage 3 tender design through to completion.

Sine Consulting worked extensively with the client to understand and ensure the IT requirements and infrastructure was provided to support the libraries and resourcing demands.

Sine Consulting were also tasked with developing the designs to incorporate innovative, low energy solutions which were also simple to control and cost effective to operate.

The roof had an extensive PV array installed to maximise the available area and potential yields.

Heat pump technologies were utilised to satisfy space heating and cooling needs where practical, and all ventilation systems incorporated heat recovery to minimise operating costs.