Tennis Court to Padel Conversion for Clubs, Councils and Schools

Last updated October 2026

We convert underused tennis courts into padel courts across the UK for clubs, councils, schools and private owners, with the planning application included and the noise and lighting assessments from our consultants. Councils have turned a pair of tennis courts into three padel courts. LTA figures from 2025 put one new floodlit court at about £71,000 ex VAT and fees, roughly half of it base and drainage. Allow six to nine months from the decision to build to the first game.

On a conversion the court kit costs the same as anywhere else; the base line is where your site can change the price.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Padel court build costs by number of courts, UK, £ ex VAT and fees, LTA 2025 figures used for 2026 budgets

Padel courts	Courts with lights	Ring beam, base, ducting and drainage	Court total
1	£36,000	£35,000	£71,000
2	£70,000	£78,000	£148,000
3	£100,000	£110,000	£210,000
4	£128,000	£140,000	£268,000

Source: LTA Padel Court Construction Guidance Note 2025 (indicative new-build costs). How much of the base column a conversion still needs depends on the survey. These are typical figures only. The price for your old court is confirmed once we have surveyed it.

How many padel courts fit on a tennis court?

Real UK conversions show two tennis courts making room for three padel courts, and one tennis court taking two. Run-off, fencing and the nearest homes decide your number. What councils and clubs have done:

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Where	Tennis courts used	Padel courts	What happened
Hounslow (Hanworth and Isleworth leisure centres)	2 of 4 at each site	3 at each site, 6 in total	Approved 20 Jan 2026, opening spring or summer 2027
Glasgow Club Scotstoun	2 of 8 indoor courts	3	Work started; opening planned for April 2026 (February 2026 report)
Sunderland, Silksworth	4	4 covered	Approved 28 Sep 2026, daytime hours only
Alderley Edge Cricket Club	1 (court 9)	2	Approved 24 Jun 2026 after a third court was dropped
Lion Quays Resort, near Oswestry	3	3	Approved by Shropshire Council 4 Jul 2024, with 6m lighting columns
Lansdown LTC, Bath	1	2	Refused on noise

On LTA enclosure sizes, two courts side by side need 20.80m by 22.3m and three need 20.80m by 33.8m, with no outer play area. Measuring your site is the LTA’s first step, and ours.

How much does it cost to convert a tennis court to padel?

Budget from the LTA’s new-build figures and then adjust for your old court: about £71,000 for one floodlit court and £210,000 for three, ex VAT and fees. The kit, glass and lights cost the same on a conversion. The open question is the base.

Hounslow Council’s public figure is £950,000 of capital for six courts on former tennis courts, given as a total. Kit-only prices you see online leave out the base, drainage and planning, which the LTA says is usually excluded from contractor quotes. Ours includes it.

Can the old tennis court base be reused?

Partly, at best. The old surface can sometimes stay as a layer, but a padel court still needs a new reinforced concrete ring beam around its edge.

The LTA says foundations for an outdoor court “must consist of a ring beam or below ground foundation”, and that a court with glass walls should be treated as a structure. A padel court weighs around 5 tonnes, according to one installer quoted by Curchods Estate Agents, so it has to be fixed into concrete rather than tarmac.

That installer describes a common approach on an old tennis court:

• keep the existing surface and perforate it so water drains through
• cast the concrete ring beam around the new court
• lay a fresh layer of tarmac over the top, flush with the beam

The same installer warns of “a misconception that there is very little groundwork required”, which is why we survey before we price. The survey checks:

• Falls: the LTA allows a maximum gradient of 1 in 100 for a padel base.
• Drainage: a structural engineer must design it, says the LTA, with an outfall through the ring beam.
• Condition: cracked or soft macadam may have to come up; one price guide puts lifting tarmac at £2,000 to £5,000.

Our padel court base construction page sets out the full LTA base specification.

Do I need planning permission to convert a tennis court to padel?

Almost always, yes. Padel courts have glass and mesh walls 3 to 4 metres high, and floodlights need permission in most cases, according to planning lawyers at Nexa Law. Freeths LLP lists fencing, glass enclosures, floodlights and longer hours among the things that typically need consent.

Conversions win when the noise case is made properly. Alderley Edge was approved 7 to 3 with a 3.2m acoustic barrier on three sides, reduced hours, and the fence 14m and the court 25m from the nearest home. Tonbridge and Malling discharged the lighting condition on David Lloyd’s Kings Hill conversion in April 2026.

The warning is Bath. Councillors refused two padel courts at Lansdown Lawn Tennis Club 6 votes to 4, although officers had accepted the acoustic report. The nearest homes were 3.5m and 8.5m away.

Our padel court planning permission service covers pre-application advice, the application, noise, lighting and the design and access statement.

Will the neighbours notice the change from tennis to padel?

Often, yes. Padel is louder than tennis at the sides of the court, and that is what planning officers look at.

MW Acoustics research, reported by The Padel Paper in September 2025, found padel about 6 dB louder than tennis at 5m from the side, but almost identical at the glass end, with 88 impact sounds every five minutes against 50. So on a conversion, layout matters most: glass ends toward the nearest homes, open sides away. With a house inside 50m, the LTA expects noise and light surveys. Our padel court noise assessment is done before the layout is fixed.

Will Sport England or the LTA object to losing tennis courts?

Sport England can object where playing fields are affected, so the application has to show the tennis courts are underused and that padel meets a local need.

Hounslow recorded tennis occupancy down 27% on pre-pandemic levels before converting. Sport England raised no objection at Alderley Edge, while York refused two courts at Dunnington Sports Club partly for loss of playing field land. Our planning team puts booking data, membership trends and the tennis that stays on site into the application.

How long does a tennis court conversion take?

One published guide puts the whole journey, from deciding to convert to the first game, at six to nine months. Most of that is planning and the wait for the court kit, not work on site.

Stage	Typical time	Source
Planning decision (England, non-major application)	8 weeks statutory period, longer if agreed	gov.uk
Court kit lead time	8 to 14 weeks	UK Padel Guide
Groundworks	3 to 5 weeks per phase	UK Padel Guide
Court installation	About 1 week per court	UK Padel Guide

Hounslow approved funding in January 2026 and expects to open in spring or summer 2027. We order kit once permission is granted, so its lead time runs alongside groundworks.

Can a club fund a tennis court conversion?

Not-for-profit clubs can apply to the LTA Facility Loan Scheme at 5% fixed interest, and councils have used capital budgets or operator deals.

Esher Tennis and Padel, an LTA case study, turned a macadam court and practice wall into two floodlit padel courts with loan support, and membership reached around 1,100. Sefton Council went out to tender in January 2025 for an operator to convert tennis courts in three parks.

Eligibility, the IMD discount and what a loan application needs are set out in our padel court funding guide.

What’s included

• Survey of the old courts: levels, falls, drainage and surface
• Layout drawing: how many courts fit and which way they face
• Planning: pre-app, application and design and access statement, with noise and lighting reports from our consultants
• Ring beam, base works and drainage
• Court supply and installation, turf and LED floodlights

What’s not included

• Building control fees, where a canopy needs them
• Upgrading the electricity supply to the site, which we price separately if the survey shows it is needed
• Resurfacing any tennis courts you keep
• Any guarantee of planning approval, which is the council’s decision

Illustrative example

Worked from the LTA 2025 figures in the first table only. The club is fictional.

A club converts two tennis courts into three floodlit padel courts. On LTA figures that is £210,000 ex VAT and fees: £100,000 of courts and lights, £110,000 of base and drainage. If the survey finds sound macadam within a 1 in 100 fall, perforating and overlaying it changes part of the £110,000, never the £100,000. Planning reports are priced after we see the site.

Who does the work

Padel Court Build is a SustainPlan Ltd service. Each conversion draws on the specialist teams in turn: planning consultants and acoustic specialists for the application, our groundworks team for the ring beam and base, and our installers for the court, turf and lights.

Often needed alongside

• Padel court groundworks: what goes under the court
• Padel courts for councils and schools: tennis conversions on public sites
• Padel club build: costs and phasing for member clubs
• Padel court cost: the full UK price guide

FAQs

Can a padel court go straight onto the old tarmac?

Not without a concrete ring beam. The court frame bolts into concrete, so the beam is needed even when the old surface stays as a layer.

Will the old tennis lights work for padel?

Rarely. The LTA asks for fittings at least 6m above the court and 300 lux for recreational play, with tilt angles shown so glare can be judged.

Can we add a canopy later?

Yes, with its own planning permission. The LTA prices a one-court canopy at about £95,000 ex VAT and fees, and building control may apply.

Sources

• LTA Padel Court Construction Guidance Note 2025, LTA Padel Court Data Sheet and LTA Padel construction page (read 17 Oct 2026)
• Hounslow Council news 10159; Glasgow Life, 27 Feb 2026; Sefton Council news, 17 Jan 2025
• Sunderland Echo, 28 Sep 2026; alderleyedge.com, 27 Jun 2026; Shropshire Star, 6 Jul 2024 (ref 24/01806/FUL); plota.co.uk (ref 26/00324/RD); YorkMix, 1 Apr 2026
• Bath and North East Somerset Council minutes, ref 24/00607/FUL
• Curchods Estate Agents, 12 Oct 2023, quoting a padel court installer
• The Padel Paper, 11 Sep 2025 (MW Acoustics); Nexa Law, 1 May 2026; Freeths LLP, 26 May 2026; NJL Consulting
• UK Padel Guide, 13 Oct 2026; gov.uk “Determining a planning application”, 8 Apr 2026
• LTA Facility Loan Scheme and Esher case study (read 17 Oct 2026)