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hot topic, Concordia squash court heating, update.

12/1/2016

Concordia Squash Club’s Battle for Heat
2015/2016 has seen a huge transformation for Concordia Leisure Centre with a four and half million pound refurbishment which offers huge insight into where Northumberland County Council are headed in terms of providing sports and leisure facilities to their Council Tax Payers.
We at the squash club have always been assured that our future is safe and that our squash courts would not experience disruption.
To a fuller extent that has been the case but for some dust and cold spells while major alterations took place.
Our 2015/2016 winter season didn’t get off to a good start with the heating system inoperable. It took a while but by mid-November things got decidedly better. The courts have generally been warm.
The most recent setback w/c Monday 4th January 2016 and how things have developed since then got me thinking that Concordia Squash Club and its life long battle for heat is worth documenting, for posterity if nothing else.

Where we are right now.
The recent setback mentioned above was the result of workmen starting to dismantle our heating system. It appears that the Architect, Project Manager and all those under their direction had no idea our heating system was still in use and much needed.
After an emergency meeting the heating system was put back together and by Friday lunchtime (8th January) was up and running again. As I understand it this is a temporary measure.
The old system is too bulky and is taking up ceiling space needed for the new ’cinema style’ spinning studio planned to replace the judo/soft play area behind the squash court viewing gallery.
Nothing is certain at this stage but it appears the squash courts are going to get a new system whether it be a stand-alone one or is hooked up to the brand new heating system servicing the rest of the building. Theoretically this should see an end to our heating woes.

A Potted History.
Concordia Leisure centre opened some 40 years ago with 3 fully enclosed squash courts. The 3 glass back courts were added later. From its opening, the centre overall and the squash courts were very warm.
When the new glass back courts were added the heating system, situated in the roof space above the original 3 courts, was adapted
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so that it fed heat to all 6 courts. This worked well and for several glory years Concordia Squash Club was considered a great venue with 6 of the warmest courts in the County and a great viewing gallery. Several County events were hosted here.
It all went horribly wrong when the 3 original (enclosed) courts were converted to a dance studio on the lower floor and a judo/soft play studio upstairs (as it is presently) Not only did the club lose 3 courts but the heating system has never been the same again.
I have copy correspondence as far back as 1995 referring to complaints of cold courts and other issues.
It is fair to say that from 1995 and well into the new millennium squash was in decline and many of those ‘seventies’ players who founded the club began to retire from the sport, there were very few new players coming through and the junior section faded when coach Alan Metcalfe moved on. Club membership dwindled. For whatever reason, management did not respond to the club’s requests for cleaner and warmer courts and relations between the two camps deteriorated. I’m not prepared to go into how this came about, others may judge but for many years Concordia had the reputation as being a very cold venue to play squash and not popular with visiting teams.
My personal view is that non squash players will never grasp the fundamental importance of a warm court and how a few degrees of heat changes the dynamics of the game so widely, particularly for everyday club players. Unfortunately there were no managers with such insight or experience of squash. Other priorities left us sidelined.
Despite all of this the club continued to exist and has slowly built up its membership to a healthy 60 plus.

It all changed during the 2013/2014 season when the courts’ heating system was turned on and stayed on! Not only was it on but it was on ‘full blast’. One or two club players took a wee while to get used to the new heat and the odd casual non squash player complained to reception staff that the courts were too hot.
The roller coaster ride continued when the heating system was switched off in March 2014 when the clocks went forward.
Back to cold courts and things didn’t really improve until November 2015. Throughout this period we had a variety of court conditions with cold and occasional warm air blowing randomly. We also had any number of explanations and/or reassurances from the centre’s management that things would improve.
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And so we are somewhere near to the present.
A fair assessment is that the system has not been fit for purpose since those changes in the mid 1990’s but with no available funding nothing was going to change.
With a four and a half million pound refurbishment in the pipeline I had hoped some money might be put to one side for the squash courts which have been neglected for the last 20 years. No so.

The Architect and on site Project Manager involved in this four and half million pound refurbishment have been using the original building plans going back to the 1970’s. Plans and documents showing the various alterations to the centre during its lifetime are not available. This seems to be the main reason why, by default, we are going to get a new system after all.
Forgive my lack of knowledge and technical jargon but with the ceiling tiles removed for the refurbishment work you can see the 2 heat exchange units (Yes there are 2) and the way in which they have been modified.
The current project at Concordia is a big one and things change all the time however my belief is that our court floors are going to be sanded down in April and this may coincide with the fitting of the new heating. Let’s hope so.
Ian Mc
12th January 2016

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Heating off just as weather turns cold!

hot topic, Concordia squash court heating, update.

enter now for Concordia 2016 handicap competition starting 25/1/16

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