The Bandeja summer 2024 issue

padium
“I have never seen this degree of complexity
on any other site and there will probably never
be another site like it,”
Paul Ross, director and founder at Edinbrugh-based Padel Tech
Padium
the most complex
padel build EVER?
Just two minutes’ walk from the
top of the huge escalator that
rises out of Canary Wharf tube
station, Padium is not hard to spot
with its three-arched roof and brightly
coloured frontage nestled amongst
30 and 40-storey skyscrapers.
But what visitors to the club won’t
see is the engineering ingenuity
hidden deep beneath the building.
For Padium was constructed on a
15m high scaffold sitting deep inside
a basement constructed in readiness
for a future skyscraper.
“I have never seen this degree of
complexity on any other site and
there will probably never be another
site like it,” said Paul Ross, director and
founder at Edinbrugh-based Padel
Tech, which constructed Padium’s
structure and courts.
extensive coordination and teamwork
from a large cast of companies.
From Canary Wharf’s designers and
designated contractors, to Padium,
Padel Tech and canopy supplier
Okatent, to the people who look after
the everyday safety, security and
logistics of London’s leading financial
district, there were many issues and
interfaces to juggle.
customer experience - how it
feels when you step into the club,
the interior design, changing rooms,
courts, even the smell.”
Having considered warehouse
locations on the outskirts of the
capital he realised that he needed
a more flagship location. Canary
Wharf was high on his hit-list.
Padium. It’s London’s flagship padel
club, an eight court oasis slotted
between the towering skyscrapers of
Canary Wharf. Within six months of
opening 5,000 people had streamed
through its doors and plans are afoot
to add another court and roll out the
Padium brand - backed by Spotify
co-founder Martin Lorentzon - to a
second location. But building the club
wasn’t just a challenge, it was an
audacious plan requiring heavyweight
engineering par excellence, as
Kristina Smith reports.
It’s quite a statement from a
company which has built padel
courts in some rather unusual places,
from onboard a ship to a remote
Caribbean island for a celebrity client.
It has also constructed around 50% of
the UK’s 400 or so padel courts and
draws on the experience of adidas’s
AFP Court installers around the world
as AFP’s only UK partner.
Aside from the weight of the
Padium building itself, the
connection between structure and
scaffold at the Canary Wharf Bank
Street site had to take the uplift forces
of the winds that blow through the
former London docklands area. With
the corridor effect created by the tall
buildings these can be substantial
and capricious.
Designing and constructing this
most unique padel facility required
Padium founder
Houman Ashrafzadeh.
“It needed lots of eyes, lots of brain
and lots of brain power,” said Paul.
“It was a real team effort that
delivered this project.”
Vision
Padium is the brainchild of serial
entrepreneur Houman Ashrafzadeh,
already a tenant at Canary Wharf
with one of his healthy fast-food
restaurants Urban Greens. Inspired by
clubs in Sweden, where he grew up,
Houman was keen to create a highend
padel experience in the UK.
“Back in 2019 there were only a
few courts in the UK and we didn’t
have premium facilities like the
ones we have in Sweden,” said
Houman. “I wanted to elevate the
“There were four or five other
operators bidding for the same site
but we wanted to do something quite
different,” said Houman. “Canary
Wharf already knew me as a tenant
through Urban Greens so they knew
that I am detail oriented, brand
oriented and a good tenant.”
Another happy coincidence was
that the wife of Canary Wharf’s CEO
Shobi Khan was already a keen padel
player. And now Shobi is a fan too,
enjoying games with Houman.
Engineering ingenuity
Originally Padium was to be built on
a site in Wood Wharf, a good location
but further from Canary Wharf tube
station. The basement structure there
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