Bolton One
Bolton One is a landmark £34 million development combining leisure facilities, NHS urgent care services and a university teaching centre. With such a wide range of functions housed under one roof, the building required a wayfinding strategy that helped visitors understand the three distinct areas while still experiencing the facility as a cohesive, community-focused destination.
Challenges
Three major public-facing functions (health, fitness, university) in one building
Visitors struggling to understand the different zones and their access points
Need to connect the building clearly back into the wider Bolton town centre
Complex internal circulation with multiple floors and shared spaces
Requirement to express the individual identities of each zone without fragmenting the building
High daily footfall from NHS patients, university students and leisure users
Our Approach
We began by analysing how each user group approached and navigated the building. From this, we developed a unified strategy with zone-specific identities for the NHS facility, sports centre and university teaching areas. We used clear internal mapping and landmark-based navigation to help visitors quickly orient themselves, and created consistent signage that tied everything together visually. External wayfinding improvements were also introduced to strengthen communication links between Bolton One and the surrounding town centre.
Results
The final strategy created a welcoming, intuitive route structure across all three sections of the facility. Visitors now understand instantly which zone they need and how to reach it, reducing stress and improving overall efficiency. Bolton One has become a highly successful and widely used community asset, with the wayfinding system contributing to its accessibility, popularity and status as a town landmark.
More Town & City Wayfinding
Every project we deliver is rooted in how people actually think, move, and make decisions. The results speak for themselves! Clearer journeys, fewer questions, reduced stress, and environments that simply work better.
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Let’s Talk Wayfinding
If you have questions about wayfinding, navigation or user experience, get in touch. Complete our short form and we’ll follow up with a friendly, no-pressure conversation.