In the heart of the City of London, a quiet legal enclave has been transformed into an unexpected sporting arena. New Street Square, better known for corporate lunches and commuter foot traffic, is now hosting one of the capital’s fastest‑growing pastimes: pickleball. As part of the London Sports Festival,the square’s granite plaza has been retrofitted with temporary courts,spectator areas and support facilities,showcasing how urban spaces can be reimagined through smart facilities management to meet the surging demand for inclusive,accessible sport.
Expanding the urban sports mix How pickleball is transforming New Street Square
Once a thoroughfare best known for coffee runs and client lunches, New Street Square is quietly becoming a test bed for the future of urban recreation. By dropping a full-scale pickleball court into the heart of the plaza,organisers have engineered a new rhythm to the working day,turning in-between spaces into playable spaces. Office workers now step out of meetings and straight onto the court, while passers-by pause to watch rapid-fire rallies unfold between suited professionals, visiting students and local residents.The result is a more porous boundary between work and wellbeing,where spontaneous sport feels as natural as grabbing a sandwich.
For facilities managers, the compact, low-impact nature of the game is a strategic win, proving that small footprints can deliver outsized social value. The square’s temporary layout weaves in branded seating, pop-up coaching stations and flexible storage, all designed to be packed away within minutes. This modular approach enables the space to pivot between uses,supporting:
- Lunchtime leagues that encourage office-to-office rivalry
- After-work socials blending networking with light competition
- Community taster sessions that open corporate space to local residents
- Wellbeing activations curated with HR and workplace leaders
| Feature | Benefit for New Street Square |
|---|---|
| Compact court size | Fits within existing plaza zones |
| Shared equipment hubs | Lowers barriers to trying the sport |
| Mixed-ability play | Inclusive for all ages and fitness levels |
| Rotating time slots | Maximises daily participation |
Behind the scenes Facilities strategies that keep pop up courts safe and durable
Turning a corporate plaza into a playable surface demands more than rolling out a few temporary tiles. Facilities teams at New Street Square begin with a forensic survey of the site,checking gradients,drainage lines and existing hardscape before any court lines are taped. Sub-bases are cleaned, patched and, where necessary, levelled with fast-curing compounds to prevent trip hazards and ponding. A layered system of shock pads and modular tiles is then deployed, selected for slip-resistance, UV stability and load-bearing capacity so the courts can withstand lunchtime crowds, evening matches and the weight of portable seating. To protect the underlying plaza, edge trims and non-marking adhesives are specified, ensuring that when the last serve is struck, the square can return to business-as-usual without scars.
Once play begins,the focus shifts to live risk management and asset protection. A rotating crew of stewards and technicians works from a pre-agreed operations plan, covering inspection intervals, cleaning regimes and emergency responses. Key controls include:
- Daily safety sweeps for loose tiles, debris and surface moisture.
- Micro-cleaning schedules to remove dust, food spills and rubber scuffs before they affect grip.
- Barrier systems that separate players from pedestrian flows without blocking fire routes.
- On-site spares for tiles, nets and fasteners to enable rapid repairs between games.
| Check | Frequency | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Surface integrity | Before first match | FM technician |
| Perimeter barriers | Every 2 hours | Event marshal |
| Lighting levels | At dusk | Site engineer |
| Noise & crowd flow | Continuous | Duty manager |
Engaging office workers Turning lunchtime events into long term participation
What began as a curiosity-driven lunchtime diversion in New Street Square is rapidly becoming a fixture of the corporate calendar, as facilities managers harness pickleball’s easy learning curve and social appeal to entice office workers away from their desks. Pop-up courts, loaner paddles and short, instructor-led taster sessions mean staff can drop in between meetings, play a speedy game and return to work energised, without needing specialist kit or prior experience. To turn that first rally into a habit, organisers are introducing subtle nudges: branded scorecards pinned to noticeboards, weekly highlight reels on internal channels and friendly rivalries between departments that keep the conversation – and the competition – alive long after the nets are packed away.
Behind the scenes, workplace leaders are treating these midday matches as a pilot for a broader participation strategy, pairing on-court activity with data on attendance, satisfaction and space utilisation. Simple incentives – from team challenges to “bring a colleague” sessions – are structured to reward consistency rather than performance, encouraging inclusivity over elite play. Facilities teams are also weaving pickleball into existing wellbeing frameworks through:
- Rotating league fixtures that fit into 30-minute lunch slots
- Skill-level courts so beginners and regular players feel equally welcome
- Drop-in coaching to help nervous first-timers gain confidence quickly
- Cross-building tournaments that connect tenants across the estate
| Initiative | Office Benefit |
|---|---|
| Lunchtime taster days | Boosts footfall in shared spaces |
| Monthly mini-leagues | Builds ongoing engagement |
| Inter-team finals | Strengthens workplace community |
Practical lessons for facilities managers Planning power surfaces and scheduling for future festivals
For estates teams in the City, the most transferable insight from New Street Square is the need to treat temporary courts and fan zones as a semi-permanent layer of infrastructure, especially when it comes to electrical resilience. Pop-up pickleball required low-voltage, high-density power access around the plaza edge for scoreboards, coaching stations, catering and live-streaming, but the operators also allowed for silent backup generation and battery storage to cover production-critical loads without breaching local noise thresholds. In practice, that meant mapping every socket, cable run and IP-rated connection point months in advance, then stress‑testing them under real‑time conditions. The result was a power plan that doubled as a template for any future mixed‑sport event in the same footprint.
- Distribute power points along natural crowd flows, not just near stages.
- Segregate circuits for courts,media,F&B and lighting to simplify fault-finding.
- Pre‑approve load schedules with landlords, DNOs and key tenants.
- Build in spare capacity for unplanned activations and sponsor demands.
| Zone | Primary Load | Backup Strategy | FM Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court deck | Scoring & AV | Battery packs | Cable protection |
| Fan plaza | Retail & F&B | Silent generator | Load balancing |
| Broadcast pod | Streaming kit | UPS systems | Climate control |
Scheduling was treated with the same rigour. Facilities managers worked backwards from tournament play times, using a staggered build and strike model that minimised disruption to office tenants while protecting the playing surface from last‑minute improvisation. Night shifts handled heavy lifts and lighting truss work; early mornings were reserved for acoustic checks and test matches; daytime windows were tightly choreographed to keep public access routes open. This operational choreography now acts as a repeatable blueprint: a live calendar that aligns court maintenance, waste collection, deliveries and security sweeps with the daily rhythm of a working commercial estate.
Concluding Remarks
As participation figures continue to climb and corporate wellbeing moves higher up the agenda, the new courts at New Street Square demonstrate how even densely built urban estates can accommodate emerging sports. For Landsec, Savills and their partners, the initiative is as much about reimagining workplace amenities as it is about harnessing a fast-growing fitness trend. If early uptake is any indication, pickleball’s arrival in the legal heart of London may prove a blueprint for facilities managers seeking to activate underused space, foster community and keep occupiers coming back to the office.
