Playing by the rules

The Princess Royal Sports Arena in Boston, Lincolnshire, is a wooden wonder. Constructed entirely from timber, the sports centre looks like an ark awaiting a flood on its site at the edge of the North Sea. One of the most remarkable things about the arena is that architect BGP McGonaghy conceived it as a steel-frame building. To make the switch, the project team had to learn from scratch how the large timber elements interacted with other components. The facility was also designed to comply with onerous new Building Regulations governing disabled access. Next year the dreaded Part L energy regulations will be on us again, and we’ve got the latest on what’s in store for specifiers of cladding and curtain walling. There’s also news of an updated European Standard for curtain walling and the latest on the cost of recently built sports halls.