Training Academy at Lurgan Golf Club
Tate Stevenson Architects were the project leaders for the development of the Golf Academy at Lurgan Golf Club, which has been awarded a Centre of Excellence for Golf Training by the Golfing Union of Ireland.
The brief was to create a training centre, which consisted of a golf studio with indoor nets, video camera facility and a roller shutter to allow students to play shots directly onto the golf range. The academy building also consisted of storage facilities for golf buggies, professional workshop, golf ball dispensing and ball washing facilities. The centre also includes covered driving bays with flood lit golf range, pitching area and practice chipping greens.
The project was conceived as a joint venture between Lurgan Golf Club, the Department of Social Development NI, with support from Craigavon Borough Council, to redevelop a former plantation area that was a centre of anti-social behaviour within the area. The new facility would also provide a physical activity centre for the local community and schools within an area which has been recognised as an area of social deprivation.
The roof of the golf academy and the covered driving bays incorporated photovoltaic panels to reduce energy consumption within the academy and adjacent golf club, with surplus energy being transferred to the electricity grid.
The “Burne” floodlighting incorporated low energy light fitting, ground mounted to reduce light pollution and special shading safety netting was also installed to stop the spillage of light to an adjacent private dwelling.
The success of the project has been recognised by the sponsors of the project and the local community, as all antisocial behaviour has now ceased and the golfing facilities are being used by the local community, golf club members and the wider golfing community