The £12m King’s Bastion Leisure Centre was heaving with clientele within minutes of opening its doors for business earlier this month.
The ambitious project centred on the refurbishment of the bastion’s defensive walls and combines cutting-edge modern architecture with a careful regard for heritage.
The innovative use of steel and glass, retains the bastion’s distinctive features to create an avante garde installation that mixes old and new in a balanced blend.
The aim was to create a contemporary design to complement rather than replicate the old walls.

The leisure centre itself is contained within the boundary of the bastion but does not infringe on it. Areas of wall that were lost inside the old power station have now been recovered and restored.
“The glass is the secret of the whole design concept,” said Carl Viagas, the Gibraltar Government’s heritage officer who has played a key role in the project. “Only the glass actually comes into contact with the walls.”
The leisure centre is in fact “a box within a box”, and because only the glass panels come into contact with the stone walls, the old bastion appears visually untouched.
Throughout the complex the design by Dutch architect Stefan Ritzen creates a strong impression of space and light.
The Leisure Centre currently contains adult and children bowling facilities, an ice skating rink, a well-equipped amusement arcade, a pool and snooker lounge, a multi-station internet lounge, a youth lounge and bar with further games and entertainment facilities such as big screens and others, a nightclub and an adult terrace bar.
It will shortly also boast a two-screen cinema and a personal fitness centre.
The restaurant, bar and bowling facilities are operated by private sector operators. The rest is operated by the centre’s own management and by the Sport & Leisure Authority.
The Gibraltar Government said its vision and objective is to make the Leisure Centre a place of safe and enjoyable entertainment for all the family, where people of all ages can come and enjoy the amenities in a relaxed and safe environment.
In the days following the opening, the complex was packed with families curious to experience this significant new addition to Gibraltar’s social life.
Speaking at the opening of the centre, Chief Minister Peter Caruana, who admits taking a close personal interest in the project, was clearly pleased with the result.
“I am no expert on such matters, but I have travelled extensively [and] I believe that the recovery and restoration of the King’s Bastion as a heritage monument, and the sensitivity and care with which the Leisure Centre has been built and integrated into the Bastion, is by global standards, an outstanding achievement in the management, conservation and putting to use of heritage,” he said.
And he added: “I know that some people genuinely interested in heritage in Gibraltar have been unable to agree with the Government’s decision to demolish the Rosia Tanks to make way for affordable housing.”
“I hope that they will accept this magnificent recovery of the King’s Bastion as some, though I understand insufficient, compensation.”
“The Government remains committed to the uncluttering and refurbishment of our walls and bastions as has already happened at Casemates, Orange Bastion, Chatham Counterguard and now here at King’s Bastion.”
“From King’s Bastion we will continue to move south to Wellington Front, the whole of which will be refurbished, restored and put to modern civic uses.”