View proposals in summary

Welcome to our public exhibition, where you’ll be able to view our updated plans to transform the Finsbury Leisure Centre site.

Islington Council is bringing forward these plans to deliver: 

• 100 council homes with 98 more homes for sale to help pay for them. 
• A brand-new leisure centre including four rooftop 5/6-a-side football pitches. 
• A modern, purpose-built home for the NHS City Road Medical Centre. 
• New and improved public spaces including a publicly accessible courtyard garden, safer, greener streets and ‘play on the way’ features for children.

We’ve been engaging with the community since 2017 to make sure we get this important project right. 

• 2013 Site allocated for redevelopment 
• 2017 Engagement with local people about the future of the centre 
• July 2022 Public engagement on outline masterplan 
• January 2024 Public engagement on draft proposals Summer 2024 Public engagement on updated proposals
• Spring 2024 Engagement with schools, community and accessibility groups 
• Summer 2024 Public engagement on updated proposals

Our most recent engagement:

In January 2024, we shared our proposals with the community at a series of engagement events.

209 stakeholders written to 

244 attendees across seven public events 

370 responses to our survey 

3,800 visitors to our engagement webpage 

13,700 homes and businesses sent a flyer 

300,000+ views of our posts on social media

During this engagement, we received lots of useful feedback that has been used to inform our updated plans.

Tackling Islington’s housing crisis 

There are more than 15,000 households waiting for a council home in Islington. Families who urgently need a safe, decent and genuinely affordable place to call home. 

For every council home we build, we can move several households into the right home for them, meaning the new homes we build here will change hundreds of lives. 

Residents tell us housing is one of the biggest challenges they face, so we’ve set ourselves a mission to change this. This project is a key part of that mission. 

What we are doing

• Built or started work on 743 new council homes since 2009, across 40+ locations. 
• Planning to build 750 more council homes across the borough, including this project.
• Investing in the safety and comfort of existing council homes, to protect them now and for future generations. 
• Buying back ex-council homes on Islington estates to use as safe, decent temporary accommodation. 
• Our planning policies push private developers to deliver 50% on-site affordable homes in housing developments in Islington.

“We’ve been in our new flat a year now and it’s made such a difference for me and the kids. Our new flat is much more spacious and there’s a lot of light."

“I’ve lived in Islington my whole life so being able to stay nearby was important, and it meant we could keep the routine that works for us with school and my job. I think it’s really important to build more council homes for people and their families in Islington.”

Elizabeth, Bunhill resident and mum of three.

Finsbury Leisure Centre is in urgent need of investment

As it is, the leisure centre is no longer fit for purpose and needs urgent investment and fundamental changes to make it fit for the future.

• The facilities are old and in poor condition, for example the sports hall floor is damaged and not properly spring-loaded for sports like basketball or badminton.
• It is not welcoming and inviting, with tired interiors, poor visibility from the street, confusing routes inside and accessibility challenges.
• It is not sustainable, with inefficient energy systems and high carbon emissions. 

This project is an opportunity to create a modern building, with great services that complement the offer at neighbouring Ironmonger Row Baths, giving users a fantastic range of sports and leisure activities across the two facilities.

To deliver the many benefits of the scheme we need to include taller buildings in the designs.

Islington’s local plan earmarks this site for development to help tackle the housing crisis and any development of the site will have some impact on neighbouring buildings. 

We have looked at different ways of organising the buildings on the site to minimise the impact on our neighbours. For example, earlier plans included more mid-height buildings instead of one taller one. 

However, sunlight and daylight analysis found that having just one taller building and removing buildings that would enclose the north and south ends of the courtyard improves the amount of light to both neighbours and the new homes.

"You told us"

While there is support for new affordable housing, some people expressed concern about the impact of tall residential buildings on existing homes. 

The layout of the scheme and the location of our tallest building has been carefully considered to maximise the amount of sunlight and daylight to both neighbours and the new homes.

We have refined our designs to optimise the daylight and sunlight to both new homes and neighbours by:

1. Opening up the courtyard space to the north and south, allowing views and light through this landscaped space and to neighbours.
2. Widening the courtyard, allowing more light into the new buildings and neighbouring buildings. 
3. Carefully positioning the tallest building (20 storeys) on Central Street, in the middle of the site.
4. Pulling back our building frontage on Paton Street to allow more space and light for neighbours.
5. Carefully designing the leisure centre to maximise daylight and sunlight to the new homes and neighbours. The new leisure centre design is around 9 metres higher than the existing building, lower than earlier design proposals.

We will be building 100 council homes for social rent and 98 homes for sale to help pay for them. 

Our local lettings policy will give secure council tenants already living in Bunhill ward, and who meet the local lettings criteria, priority for the new council homes - with a focus on those whose current homes don’t meet their needs. Twenty of the new homes will be suitable for wheelchair users, and 13 of these will be council homes.

Homes for families

We’re proud that most of the new council homes will be family sized. These are the most badly-needed council homes in Islington. The council homes will include:

• 1 four-bed
• 24 three-beds
• 42 two-beds
• 33 one-bed

Our new homes will benefit from:

• Private outdoor space with gardens on the ground floor and balconies on upper floor
• Good internal storage
• Space to work or study
• Most homes will be dual or triple aspect, bringing natural light and ventilation
• Generous cycle storage in the basement
• Secure space for mobility scooter storage on site

We’ve given a lot of thought to how the new buildings should look. We’ve taken inspiration from nearby buildings to make sure the new buildings fit in with local architecture. We also want the residential buildings to feel distinct from the leisure centre. That’s why we’ve decided to use light coloured bricks and concrete as our main materials with white and light bronze metal for details like the balconies to add texture. We’ll also be using materials that are long lasting and easy to maintain.

We want the area to feel welcoming and active, so we’ve designed the ground floor homes to have their front doors opening onto the pedestrian street and carefully placed communal entrances on the corners of buildings. 

Combined with the new leisure and medical facilities and landscaped areas, there will be more ‘coming and going’ at street level. This helps to discourage anti-social behaviour and makes places feel safer.

Our proposals are designed to high environmental standards.

• Our new homes are designed to high energy efficiency standards, helping to keep energy demand in residents’ homes to a minimum.
• Almost all are dual aspect (have windows on two sides) and in some cases triple, promoting good light and natural ventilation. This is good for keeping homes cool in summer without air-conditioning.
• Solar panels and air source heat pumps will help generate clean energy for the new homes.
• The leisure centre building is targeting the most ambitious energy efficiency standards for this kind of building.
• The sports hall will be naturally ventilated, saving energy and money. 
• The leisure centre will be built on the concrete basement foundations reducing carbon emissions from the development.
• Green and blue roofs and sustainable urban drainage systems will reduce water run-off during storms and ensure resilience to climate change.

Design in context

The design of the new leisure centre uses similar colours and materials to nearby Ironmonger Row Baths and St Luke's Church. We have added architectural features to provide shading and texture, which change as you walk around the building. 

The new leisure centre will have its entrance onto tree lined St Luke’s Garden. Together with the recently refurbished Ironmonger Row Baths, the facilities will provide a fantastic range of modern facilities for local residents and workers to enjoy.

Our new leisure centre opens out onto an improved pedestrian street benefiting from:

• Well-lit entrance
• Retained trees
• Cycle parking
• Seating for groups
• Wayfinding signage
• New planted areas
• New street lighting

The leisure centre is designed to be inviting and inclusive, with views of the activities happening inside, and passers-by able to see different uses.

"You told us"

At our accessibility workshop in March, you told us you wanted a well-lit entrance with seating outside, drop-off spaces, tactile paving and clear signage. We are incorporating all these features into our design.

Our proposals will deliver a brand-new, inclusive space with natural light, better accessibility and visibility throughout. The new leisure centre is being built to a high specification and all the current facilities will be re-provided, either here or in nearby Ironmonger Row Baths.

We’ve designed the leisure centre with input from our operator, GLL Ltd, and Sport England and will include:

• Six-court sports hall with a sprung floor suitable for sports like badminton and basketball
• Four squash courts and viewing gallery
• A 150 sqm flexible studio space
• A 650 sqm health and fitness gym
• Four 5/6-a side football pitches
• Changing rooms and toilets, including accessible facilities and group facilities

"You told us"

You needed larger changing rooms for groups and schools. We’ve added two group changing rooms and located them immediately outside the sports hall for easy access.

We have heard loud and clear that the existing pitches are well-loved and well-used. We will be providing four replacement rooftop pitches designed to FA and Sport England standards for 5-and 6-a side football, with an accessible viewing area that also offers stunning views of London’s skyline.

"You told us"

You like the way the existing pitches are visible and help people feel safe at night. Some people are concerned about noise and light from rooftop pitches travelling into nearby properties. Some people asked how the rooftop pitches will be accessed.

It will be easy to access the pitches and spectators will be able to access the viewing area from the main leisure centre. We have carefully considered the design of our roof screening so it minimises light and noise impacts for existing and new residents. It will be more open to the south and east so that activity on the roof is visible and inviting to people outside the leisure centre.

"You asked us"

You asked us if we could create larger pitches for 7-or-9 a side games. 

We explored the possibility of installing retractable dividers to create larger pitches. However, this would not meet our obligation  to provide four replacement pitches, and the time spent moving the dividers would reduce the time available for people to play, impacting our ability to meet the high demand for these pitches.

Our plans include a medical facility to provide a new home for the NHS City Road Medical Centre.

Designed in consultation with the NHS and City Road Medical Centre GPs, the new facility will provide:

• consultation, examination and treatment rooms
• light, attractive waiting areas
• fully accessible and welcoming entrance with automatic doors
• offices, changing facilities and bathrooms for staff
• sustainable, energy efficient design
• a health and wellbeing offer alongside the new leisure centre

Most importantly, this modern purpose-built facility includes expansion space for two additional consultation rooms to cater for the growing population in this part of the city.

What your GP says

“We’re proud of the care we deliver for patients but we’ve outgrown our premises, meaning we do not have enough clinical rooms for staff and patients.Moving into a brand new, purpose-built home will be amazing and allow us to become a local community health and wellbeing hub for all our patients.”

Dr Philly O’Riordan, NHS GP and Clinical Lead, City Road Medical Centre

All around our development, we are improving the streetscape to create green, safe and active streets.

New planting will transform these public spaces into greener, healthier, more attractive spaces with new trees, shrubs and diverse planting, providing shade to keep streets cool in summer. New planting will also include sustainable urban drainage systems, reducing water run-off during storms and preventing flooding. While we do have to remove some trees, we will plant around 36 trees onsite and more offsite nearby and around the borough to replace tree canopy cover.

1. Generous planters with retained mature trees
2. Planting and trees along Mitchell Street
3. Drop-off parking for medical centre and cycle parking
4. Cycle parking, seating and planting between leisure centre and St Luke’s Gardens
5. Change in paving material to indicate leisure centre entrance
6. Simple, high-quality public realm along Norman Street with some retained parking, service bay and visitor cycle stands
7. Generous planted buffer between existing blocks to the north of the site and Paton Square, with retained mature trees
8. Courtyard garden entrance
9. Lawn area
10. Playground
11. Pedestrian only route with planting, seating and natural play on the way features

"You told us"

You told us you didn’t feel safe walking around the existing leisure centre at night. We will be providing new street lighting and CCTV, and well lit ground floor lobby spaces for our residential and leisure buildings, creating safer streets.

The courtyard garden will contain seating, natural planting and dedicated play space for children, and will be a space to relax and recharge.

"You asked us"

To make the courtyard accessible to the public. We have redesigned the courtyard garden and plan for it to be open to all during the day and safely locked at night for residents’ privacy.

"You told us"

In our January exhibition we asked where we should locate street furniture and play on the way features, inviting people to mark this up on a plan.

You told us you thought that Paton Street and the street between the leisure centre and the new residential buildings were the best places for seating and play-on-the-way features and we have incorporated this feedback into our design.

Subject to planning consent, we plan to start building in summer 2025 and construction will take two to three years.

We have experience of managing similar developments while minimising impacts on local residents and will ensure our contractors:

• appoint a dedicated resident liaison officer to communicate about work before it starts, answer questions and respond to concerns
• comply with a construction management plan and the council’s strict environmental standards for controlling noise and dust
• operate within standard daytime working hours, except for exceptional, pre-approved works
• where possible procure some sub-contracts locally, bringing benefits to local businesses
• review the use of off-site methods of construction to minimise necessary work on site

Alternative sports facilities during construction

We know it’s important to you to find somewhere to play while the new leisure centre and pitches are being built. As part of our engagement we been listening to leisure centre users and talking to local schools. We have put together a list of alternative facilities that users may wish to contact for bookings nearer the construction period.

This list will be available and kept updated on our project webpage. Nearer the time, we will be in touch with regular users of the existing leisure centre and sports pitches (via the operator, GLL) to provide more information.

Facilities nearby include:

• Ironmonger Row Baths, 1 Norman Street, Islington, EC1V 3AA - Facilities include: squash, studio space plus pool and spa facilities
• Britannia Leisure Centre, Pitfield Street, Hackney, London, N1 5FT - Facilities include: football, badminton, basketball, squash, studio space
• Highbury Leisure Centre, Highbury Crescent, Islington, London, N5 1RR - Facilities include: studio space, gym, and pool
• Sobell Leisure Centre, Hornsey Road, Islington, London, N7 7NY - Facilities include: football, studio space and pool
• Market Road Football pitches, Market Road London N7 9PL - Facilities include: 2 x 11-a-side, 2 x 5-a-side, 6 x 7-a-side pitches

• Summer 2024 Public engagement on the updated designs
• Summer 2024 Submit planning application
• Late 2024 Planning decision 
• Spring 2025 Appoint a contractor (subject to planning approval) 
• Summer 2025 Start on site
• 2027 Open the new leisure and medical centre 
• 2028 Residents move into their new homes.

Get in touch

Contact us at: 

• islingtoncouncil@londoncommunications.co.uk
• 0800 307 7554
• Freepost Plus RSYUYRSK, Housing New Build, Islington Council, Room 201, Town Hall, Upper Street, London, N1 2UD