The Spelthorne Play Resource Centre was the latest addition to a nationwide initiative for Play Resource Centres to open as a distribution centre, through which the general public, local schools and charities could have access to recyclable and reusable products from card and paper to sports equipment.

The project was initiated by Spelthorne Borough Council and was funded by a partnership between the Local Authority, Heathrow Airports Ltd and the Sports Council of England.

The Spelthorne Play Resource Centre is situated in the Memorial Gardens, Staines, Middlesex, bordering the Thames and adjacent to the Old Town Hall Arts Centre. The building itself has been substantially “recycled” as it was formerly a disused public convenience.

The existing internal walls, ceilings and partitions were removed and a delicate steel structure was inserted to support the roof and shelving and to give lateral restraint to the external walls.

The building was conceived as an “Alladins cave” hidden within the landscape of the park.

The recycled material and sports equipment were to be displayed in a plywood fin and shelf composite structure that was framed and held between a continuous floor plinth and a high level horizontal steel ring beam. The walls, ceiling and floor were identically coloured to reinforce their elemental separation from the components of structure and shelving.