The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has appointed Willmott Dixon to construct a new members’ centre adjacent to the iconic Wimbledon Championship complex.

The £70m facility, located on Somerset Road, will include 12 new tennis courts (six indoor and six outdoor), new club house facilities, an enhanced arrivals experience for competitors at The Championships and upgraded Centre Court chiller plant. There will also be a single-storey underground car park for up to 338 vehicles that will be the hub of The Championships’ courtesy car operation.

Designers involved in the project include Hopkins Architects and Rolfe Judd.

The building’s double-curved roof structure and surrounding landscaping will ensure it blends in sensitively with the local area, retaining the AELTC’s guiding principle of ‘tennis in an English garden’ throughout its grounds.

The upgrade is part of the AELTC’s Master Plan and has been commissioned to ensure Wimbledon remains the finest stage in world tennis, while also offering the best facilities for AELTC Members throughout the year.

Building work will commence in August 2019 and the project is programmed to be completed by the end of October 2021.

“We are looking forward to working with The All England Lawn Tennis Club to create these superb new facilities in a location that is synonymous with excellence in everything associated with tennis," said Roger Forsdyke, managing director for Willmott Dixon in South London and the South East.

"We’ll be bringing our experience of working in live environments to ensure we keep any impact of work on the local community to an absolute minimum – something underlined by our projects regularly scoring above average marks by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.”