The Carnegie School of Sport
Shaping the future of sport through world-class facilities
The Carnegie School of Sport is a landmark 90,000 sq ft development at Leeds Beckett University, designed by Sheppard Robson and constructed by Galliford Try. This state-of-the-art facility is a major addition to the university’s estate and forms part of a wider £200m investment programme across its campuses.
Home to undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programmes, the building also serves as a hub for elite athletes. It features a rooftop 60m athletics track, five lecture theatres, around 40 laboratories, and two world-class environmental chambers capable of simulating extreme conditions—from -30°C to +50°C, humidity levels between 15% and 95%, and altitudes up to 8,000 metres.
Technical highlights
Specialist sports & research facilities
- Indoor rooftop athletics track
- Health and wellbeing studio
- Environmental chambers for altitude and climate simulation
- Teaching spaces for over 1,600 students
Offsite manufacturing integration
SES manufactured corridor modules and plantroom pump skids via Prism, its dedicated offsite facility, ensuring efficient delivery and reduced on-site disruption.
BIM level 2 & lifecycle support
Designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent, SES applied BIM Level 2 and asset tagging, including COBie data and a VRF leak detection system to support long-term maintenance and performance.
“We are delighted with the finished building. Carnegie School of Sport is the UK’s biggest school of its type and this outstanding facility will enable our staff and students to continue to shape the future of sport, changing lives for the better by helping to improve practice, policy and performance.
Our applied research with our partner network, in performance, conditioning, and coach development, anti-doping, nutrition and health and wellbeing, is changing policy and practice around the globe. And now, thanks to this fantastic new building, our staff and students have the facilities to match their achievements and ambitions.”
Peter Mackreth
Dean of the Carnegie School of Sport
“We were delighted to have a further opportunity to work with Galliford Try on behalf of Leeds Beckett University to create such a dynamic teaching, research and performance space, as the Carnegie School of Sports.
Designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent, we were able to apply our BIM Level 2 and associated asset tagging experience to best effect, along with our established offsite manufacturing capability to ensure the building achieved its target.
Adding COBie data in the BIM model, coupled with a VRF leak detection system installed to easily identify faults, will aid future maintenance for the lifecycle of the building and ensure that it, like the elite athletes who study and train on site, will sustain optimum performance.”
Steve Joyce
Managing Director, SES Engineering Services
“We are proud to have delivered the Carnegie School of Sport project for the staff and students at Leeds Beckett University. The project team and all the stakeholders involved rose to the challenge, creating a truly world-class facility that will have a significant impact on teaching, research and performance for years to come.”
Cliff Wheatley
Managing Director, North East and Yorkshire, Galliford Try
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