Southwark Council has approved plans by Andy Matthews Studio for a timber-clad cricket pavilion on Dulwich Common in south London
The building for Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club will replace a single-storey 1950s pavilion already on the site, providing a clubroom, two changing rooms, two match official rooms, a kitchen and a café and bar area.
The practice says its design is a ‘modern take’ on a cricket pavilion, with a ‘pitched roof form [that] is split in two’.
The building will have dark stained wood cladding and a black metal sheet roof, as well as an exposed timber structure and wraparound glazing providing views over two cricket pitches.
The pavilion’s footprint will be around 250m2 – or 25 per cent – smaller than the existing pavilion, reducing build costs while still delivering the required facilities.
Andy Matthews Studio was appointed directly by the club in 2023 after previous proposals for the site failed due to a lack of funding.
The latest plans, however, have received £706,000 from the UK government through the Community Ownership Fund, as well as funding from the England and Wales Cricket Board, the London Marathon Charitable Foundation, Sport England and Southwark Council.
Construction is due to start on site later this year, with completion expected next spring.
Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club has 550 members and was formed in 2003 by the merger of two historic cricket clubs: Streatham and Marlborough, founded in 1805 and 1870 respectively.
Architect’s view
We believe in the importance of community-led spaces – spaces that create connections, strengthening a sense of community and belonging. The pavilion is designed to be an ‘everyday’ building, to be used and enjoyed by its members and the local community every day, not just for cricket matches.
The café/bar is open during the week, and we’ve designed the clubroom to be multi-use, adapting to suit yoga classes, coffee mornings, after-school clubs, weddings, and all kinds of activities. This built-in flexibility not only welcomes in all sections of the community but also enhances the club’s revenue-making potential, enabling it to be self-sustaining and ensuring its long-term future on Dulwich Common.
Andy Matthews, director, Andy Matthews Studio
Client’s view
Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club is a large, thriving, volunteer-run cricket club with over 550 members. This includes a growing junior section with more than 330 boys and girls and, with almost 50 women, we have one of the larger women’s sections in the country.
Having been built in a different era for a membership which back then consisted of only senior men, the current pavilion has long ceased to meet the club’s needs, let alone our future requirements.
We are therefore very grateful to Andy Matthews Studio for designing our new pavilion. It was a highly collaborative process, where the studio accommodated not only to the requirements from our governing bodies but also really listened to what a diverse and growing club like ours needs.
With this new building, we can realise our ambitions to provide the appropriate facilities for our women’s and girls’ sections, as well as allow us to start disability cricket – a longstanding wish.
It will also provide an amazing space in a special location that we will share with local organisations, firmly cementing our place in the community. With the club’s history going back centuries, the new pavilion will secure the future of the club for the next generations.
Karen Klomp, chairwoman, Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club
