PADEL FC, Wavertree, Liverpool
Type: Leisure / Sport
Year: 2025
Status: Ongoing
Client: Padel FC
Practice: OCTO Architects
Final visuals: Black Font Design
My role: RIBA Stages 0–1 and 3; assisted at Stage 4. Early concept design and massing models; supported client presentations; Stage 3 planning drawings; updated Stage 4 drawings after value engineering
The Challenge: The brief was to fit nine padel courts, a café, changing facilities and retail onto a disused tennis site at the edge of woodland, within a £2.3m budget. At the first pre-application meeting, the council described the proposed triple-barrel roof as “too agricultural.
The Concept: "Padel in the Park": a building that sits into the tree line, with a central clubhouse between the courts so players and spectators share the social space. Over three rounds with the council, the roof was wrapped in a crisp, light polycarbonate volume.
The Result: A design the council agreed at pre-application, value-engineered to meet budget and now at planning. Step-free access and inclusive changing serve players of all abilities, and terracotta courts stay neutral in a city split between Everton blue and Liverpool red.
