Arc Leisure Matlock

Matlock, Derbyshire, United Kingdom

The Arc Leisure Matlock (formerly known as Central Area Leisure Centre, CALC) scheme provides an innovative and exciting new regional sport and leisure facility for local people and visitors to the Peak District. The centre was officially opened in 2011 by Lord Sebastian Coe.

The scheme comprises a 2-storey leisure centre and swimming pool complex with associated access roads, car parks and landscaping. The £12 million scheme is located on a historic steeply sloping hill, in an area of outstanding landscape value. The development comprises a series of eight terraces separated by a series of steep slopes, resulting in a rise in elevation of around 37m, for a length of 550m.

Some of the challenges faced by Cundall included designing the most suitable foundation, infrastructure, slope stabilisation solutions and gas protection measures, as well as assessing the slope stability and the ongoing settlement in refuse materials of varying composition. Construction would not have been possible without detailed geoenvironmental and geotechnical risk assessments and ground modelling undertaken by Cundall Geotechnical, resulting in cost-effective, sustainable remediation and design proposals.

Key development considerations pertaining to the scheme included:

• design of site remediation without compromising slope stability or causing excessive settlement or adverse impact on the environment
• instability in steep landfill slopes and the design of appropriate remedial works; design of significant piled retaining walls to improve stability
• ongoing significant and variable settlement within the landfill
• design of car parks/access road in a settlement-prone landfill area
• pile design for the centre buildings through aggressive landfill and underlying complex geology
• characterisation and disposal/on-site retainment of landfill material