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SPN APR 2011 IndustryNews
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
£13.5M DIVE CENTRE SHOWS OFF THE ‘BEST OF BRITISH’
NEW GERMAN STUDY INTO CHLORINE AND ASTHMA LINK
Southend’s new Swimming and Diving centre should be promoted as a classic example of the high quality of pool construction currently being delivered in the UK.
The claim followed the opening British Gas National Cup competitive event of the £13.5m centre, part- funded by Sport England, which offers fantastic facilities to residents and visitors.
They include a 25m eight-lane competition pool and a world class dive pool with fixed platforms at 1 metre, 3 metres, 5 metres, 7.5
metres and 10 metres, two springboards at 1 metre and a further springboard at 3 metres. It also boasts a moveable floor to enable swimming lessons and exercise classes to take place, as well as a water agitation and air cushion system.
Other features of the new pool include a dry-diving training facility complete with harness and trampolines, 374 tiered seats, including 22 wheelchair spaces, and a small fun pool with water slide. The British Olympic diving team
has already announced its intention to use the new centre as a pre-games training camp prior to London 2012. It will be holding its assessment camps at the centre.
Many of diving’s biggest names, were competing for top diving honours at the inaugural event. Afterwards a spokesman for the Olympic Organising Committee said the centre provided world class facilities and showed that pool construction and design in the UK was as good if not ahead of anywhere in the world.
The German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) is to investigate concerns that exposure of children under two years to trichloramine while swimming, may lead to asthma. Trichloramine can be formed as a reaction product of chlorine. It causes the typical odour found in swimming pools, or ‘chlorine smell’. The possibility of a link between asthma and swimming in chlorinated pools was first raised in 2003 when Belgian scientists indicated a possibility that trichloramine causes damage to the lining of the lungs. Subsequent studies supported this hypothesis and showed a link between the age of a child’s first swim and a decrease in the marker protein. However, further studies are needed to determine fully the contribution of trichloramine and other by-products of chlorine to this process. Preliminary investigations in Germany have found trichloramine in a small percentage of pools. UBA said concerned parents of infants under two years with a predisposition to allergies must weigh up the benefits of swimming for their child with the possibility of a risk of developing asthma.
NEW WEBSITE HELPS COMMUNITIES IN THE FIGHT TO KEEP LOCAL POOLS OPEN
A new Pool Watch website has been set up to provide a potential lifeline for communities fighting to keep their local swimming pools alive. Olympic swimming champions Duncan Goodhew and Rebecca Adlington have joined forces with the British Swimming sponsor British Gas and the ASA to support the site at
www.pool-watch.co.uk
Swimming is the UK’s biggest participation sport, and more than three million people swim once a week. Nevertheless, 63 UK public sector swimming pools closed in 2009, while only 28 pools opened. There was also a 27% decrease in the number of school pools between 2002 and 2009. “I strongly believe that we need to help communities fight to keep their local pools open, otherwise swimming will stop being an activity that’s accessible to all,” said Duncan Goodhew. “If people get together and take a stand they can become a powerful force in the battle to save their swimming facilities, and pool-
watch.co.uk is there to help them build the strongest case possible.”
Local authority and school pools usually provide the greatest level of access for children, swimming
clubs and families on low and medium incomes. However half of these pools are over 30 years old and many are coming to the end of their lifespan. Though new facilities have been built over recent decades, only 28% of pools built since 1990 are local authority owned, compared with the 81% owned by the commercial sector.
Double Olympic champion, Adlington said: “Training in local swimming pools has helped me win two Olympic gold medals and I strongly feel that it’s important to have as many pools as possible for everyone to use.
“As well as being great for health and fitness, swimming can save your life. I hope pool-
watch.co.uk can help communities keep more pools open, so millions of people can continue to enjoy this fantastic activity.”
People power has already helped save facilities such as Beccles Lido, in Suffolk. The outdoor pool was reopened after a community run company agreed to take over control of the facility from the local council.
The local community raised £40,000 in funds and, with an additional British Gas Green Streets programme grant, installed energy efficient
technologies to lower the future running costs of the pool.
British Gas brand director, Andrew Hogan said: “Pool Watch aims to provide help to those who need support and practical information such as where to go for funding or how to create a business plan. It also features case studies from successful save our pool campaigns.”
i FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
F POOL WATCH ( 01509 640258 :
www.pool-watch.co.uk
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