Notts Gymnastics Academy, Nottingham

Notts gymnastics academy, located at Rushcliffe Leisure Centre in Nottingham required a sunken pit that had to be ‘tanked’ and damp-proofed and to accommodate a suspended pit, parallel bar podiums and a U-pit podium. The areas being 6.5m x 9m and 1.5m deep and 2.8m x 5m and 1m deep for the U-pit. To make best use of the area it was decided that a steel beam was to be installed to “section” the two areas and allow for fitting of the ‘pig-tails’ required for the suspended pit.

We provided the drawings for each section enabling the customer to visualise exactly how the finished podiums would look; these drawings were also given to the equipment supplier for their approval. All the timber had to be treated to guarantee its lifespan and damp-proof membranes were installed to ensure it won’t be penetrated by damp.

Once the steel beam had been installed the structural timber framework of the podiums and U-pit began to take shape. Due to the unique way that the floor depth measured 1m deep rather than the usual 1.5m, we raised the podium 0.5m to accommodate this and the floor area was brought forward. We also needed to enclose the areas within the podiums and U-pit area to enable the foam to be contained due to the void beneath the suspended pit. A spotting podium was constructed next to an area with a set of floor mounted parallel bars, next to these another podium was built and a set of parallel bars mounted on top.

The structural timber framework of the U-pit podium was then constructed, due to the unique way that the floor depth measured 1m deep rather than the usual 1.5m, we raised the podium 0.5m to accommodate this and the floor area was brought forward to allow for the safe fitting of high-bars and spotting area.

25mm foam cladding was then fitted to the walls around the podiums and also to the constructed podiums themselves. Wright Building Services were on site for just over a week carrying out the construction and installation before handing the project over for the equipment supplier to install the required equipment.