The new clubhouse at Sutton Churches Tennis Club does more than store rackets and pour drinks. It's a compact timber pavilion of around 100 square metres, lowered into its site and designed around the social side of a tennis club as much as the playing of tennis. The structure is cross-laminated timber and glulam, and the building is designed to the AECB CarbonLite New Build standard, so it should be comfortable to use year-round and cheap to run.
The roof canopy at Sutton Churches Tennis Clubhouse forms a sheltered terrace, the social centre of the club. RISE Design Studio.
The clubhouse is set down slightly into its ground, which gives a quiet sense of arrival from Gander Green Lane and ties the building to the courts rather than perching it above them. Lowering the form also keeps the sightlines to the courts clear, so the building feels like part of the place rather than an object dropped onto it.
A generous overhanging roof defines a shaded, semi-outdoor room at the front of the building, a threshold where members gather before and after play. It's more than shelter. It extends the social life of the club beyond the enclosed space, which is the part of a tennis club that actually holds it together. We'll admit to a soft spot for a big roof doing this much work.
The timber-lined clubroom at Sutton Churches Tennis Clubhouse, designed by RISE Design Studio, opens directly onto the courts, creating a bright social hub for players and spectators
Inside, the service spaces sit discreetly to one side so circulation stays clear, and the Clubroom opens straight onto the courts through high-performance glazing. From there you can watch a match in comfort, spill out onto the courts for a celebration, or sit with an uninterrupted view of play.
Tennis is a watching sport as much as a playing one, and the building is shaped around that. Spectator seating and shaded external areas line up with Court 1, so play and spectating overlap naturally instead of being pushed into separate parts of the site.
The timber structure is why the ambition holds up in practice. CLT and glulam give speed, strength and a low-carbon frame, and they let the building go up quickly and accurately. The high-performance glazing brings in daylight while handling acoustics and heat. Meeting the AECB CarbonLite New Build standard isn't a badge added at the end. It means the building has been modelled and engineered to be energy-efficient, healthy and cheap to run, and it shapes the decisions about fabric, glazing and orientation from early on.
Materials are chosen to take heavy use: timber for the structure, glazing for the openness onto the courts, and robust finishes that hold up without looking utilitarian.
The scheme received planning approval in April 2026. Construction is currently targeted for early 2027, with the building completing within roughly a year of starting on site. The design was developed to be deliverable as well as ambitious, so the version that was approved is the version intended to be built.
A community building earns its keep through daily use, not first impressions, so the real test for this one will be how it feels to sit under that roof after a match a few years from now. If you're thinking about a community building or a sports pavilion of your own, we'd be glad to talk it through.
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