Moorways Sports Village

Moorways Sports Village is a 9,000 m² (96,875 sq ft) aquatics, fitness, and leisure complex in Derby, England, designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects for Derby City Council. Completed in 2022, the facility combines high-performance swimming, community recreation, fitness, and leisure programs alongside the existing Moorways athletics stadium.

The architecture is organized around two intersecting volumes that separate wet and dry activities. Swimming and leisure pools occupy one zone, while the gym, fitness studios, and supporting spaces form another. Positioned at 90 degrees to one another, the volumes respond to the changing site levels and terminate in large glazed openings that frame views across the surrounding parkland.

At the centre of the aquatic program is a 50-metre competition pool equipped with two booms and two moving floors. This flexible configuration allows the pool to operate in multiple arrangements, including three separate 25-metre pools, enabling lane swimming, lessons, training, and other aquatic activities to take place simultaneously. A teaching pool and dedicated leisure water areas expand the facility beyond competitive swimming.

The main pool hall accommodates 450 spectators and 250 competitors, with automatic timing systems and overhead screens supporting organized competitions and training events. Visual connections extend from the pool spaces toward the adjacent athletics track and woodland, linking activity inside the building with the wider sports landscape.

Facing Moor Lane, the main entrance and fitness spaces establish an active public frontage and a clear point of arrival. Silver-toned aluminium cladding references Derby’s engineering heritage and the nearby Rolls-Royce Aerospace Campus while giving the large sports facility a restrained identity within its parkland setting.

Moorways Sports Village brings performance sport and everyday recreation together within an adaptable civic facility. Its flexible pool infrastructure, integrated fitness spaces, and relationship with the existing athletics venue allow the complex to accommodate competitive events, training, swimming lessons, fitness, and community leisure within a single sports destination.