Technical Refurbishment

A new mezzanine and fitness gym has been inserted above the 30m Grafton pool

Constructing the new Victorian-inspired roof to the fitness gym

The roofscape of the Willes (left) and the Grafton pool halls

The floor of the Willes pool doubled as a joinery shop during construction

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of the site, with its vast vaulted plaster ceiling, public gallery and roof lights. The sports centre’s entrance on Grafton

Road, a 1950s addition, has been removed and the brick facade reinstated. A new entrance and double-height foyer has been created through the Dutch gable end on Grafton Road in the space previously occupied by the 1st class womens’ pool. Further along this entrance axis, new male and female changing rooms have been built, below a new studio space at first floor level that features an exposed

32 | OCTOBER 2010 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

timber and steel roof structure inspired by the original building. At the southern end of the site, along

Prince of Wales Road, the distinctive main elevation with its turrets and bell tower has been separated from the rest of the sports centre and converted into luxury apartments, while the former Resident Engineer’s Block at the northern end of the building has been converted into flats and social housing apartments. These units will be sold to offset the cost of the development.

Star of the show The showpiece Willes pool sits beneath an elegant glazed gothic vaulted roof, exposed for the first time since the 1960s. It was in a terrible state before work began, the fibrous plaster covering the vaults was rotting and falling apart, the roof lights were blacked out and leaking and most of the vault was obscured by a suspended ceiling, erected in the 1980s. “There was horrible 1960s tiling

covering the walls, and when we removed