NEWS IN BRIEF
POOL TO HELP REHABILITATE ARMED FORCES NOW OPEN
Royal Air Force personnel will be served by a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool following the opening of a new £5m facility. Based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, the two storey indoor training, rehabilitation and recreational hydrotherapy pool – for client Babcock Dyncorp & Graham Construction – will play a major role in supporting 11,000 servicemen acting as a Regional Rehabilitation Unit (RRU). Paul Darlow, director at consultancy Pick Everard, who were heavily involved with the project, said: “This fantastic new facility will serve thousands of army servicemen and women across the region, helping with the recovery of injured personnel. “The new regional
rehabilitation unit replaces the existing facility and has been designed to meet the needs of its 21st century users.”
The 25m pool has six lanes and embraces sustainable technologies and materials (DREAM assessed), such as exposed structural glulam beams with insulated timber cassettes. The RRU is unique in that it is one of a few centers across the country serving most of East Anglia with musculoskeletal rehabilitation facilities. It has its own assessment and treatment areas, changing rooms and links through to an existing gym.
RENOVATION PROVIDES LEARNER POOL OPPORTUNITY Ilfracombe Swimming Pool has been officially reopened during a ribbon cutting ceremony held in February. It followed a £300,000 repair and renovation of the Devon based leisure centre, which reopened its doors to the public in January.
The centre closed more than a year ago after a damaged outlet pipe left the pool empty of all water. In addition to replacing the damaged pipes, the old 33-metre pool was split, creating a new heated learner pool and a 25-metre competition pool with boom.
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
Lonsdale Trust Reveals Aspirational Plans For New Pool
Lonsdale Swimming & Sports Trust have unveiled what they hope their new pool will look like once a new site has been found. The Trust is searching for a new location to build a pool to replace the existing 45-year-old Lonsdale Pool in Mickleover which is becoming too expensive to run. They need 1.5 acres and are working closely with Derby City Council and other public and private sector land owners to investigate options in the west of the city.
Having secured a site, they can
forge ahead with building a new £4m 2,500 sq m leisure centre with an eight-lane 25m length pool, a 200-seat viewing area and potentially a second training pool. They also plan to include a gym and fitness studio in the centre. The Trustees have been visiting other pools in the East Midlands and beyond and say that the Arc in Matlock, built and run by Derbyshire Dales District Council, reflects their aspirations for the design of the new pool. Lonsdale Trust Chair Ian Cotter said: “We were hugely impressed with the Arc when we visited the site and this has given us a clear vision for how our new pool would look here in Derby.
“The current Lonsdale Pool is a popular facility for swimming and scuba diving clubs, local schools, young people and adults who learn to swim here and people of all ages who regularly benefit from
the health advantages of swimming. “A new pool of this size and quality would therefore provide much needed facilities to ‘keep Derby swimming’.” Lonsdale Trust has run the pool since 2007 following the site and surrounding land in Mickleover being sold by the University of Derby for housing.
The pool’s extensive running costs are currently supported with £100,000 a year by the developers building Varsity Grange on the former university site under a Section 106 agreement.
This agreement will finish in 2025 at which point, the £1m received by then will have been completely used up keeping the current pool open rather than being an important lever to attract grant funding and finance. The pool will therefore be closed with a community facility lost forever.
Operational Surveys Optimise Return for Commercial Swimming Pools
A well targeted operational survey maximises income, growth and quality for commercial pools, say Combined Leisure Solutions (CLS). With over 25 years’ operational experience of the commercial pool sector, CLS fully understand the challenges faced by pool operators. The company provides clients with a cost effective business development and streamlining service, which can quickly result in considerable savings. This can be provided alongside a full range of the more traditional maintenance and repair services. Sub-contracting to gain this type of specialist knowledge has become increasingly common in the leisure industry in recent years. Companies such as CLS offer great value for money and also a wide range of expertise.
Controlled efficiency in staffing levels, chemical consumption, health of plant room equipment, Health & Safety along with maximising pool usage can make substantial savings. Clients are provided with a framework within which to maximise this efficiency.
CLS use techniques and codes of practise gleaned from many years’ experience of public and private commercial pools. This sets them apart from a supplier, whose knowledge may be limited to their own individual component. Regular and structured maintenance is also a key part of success. The provision of a personalised maintenance plan will ensure the highest water quality can be achieved for customers.
Scheduled checks can also be completed by team CLS to provide a detailed risk assessment of any possible component failure of the plant, including identification of upcoming tasks to avoid unnecessary down time and assist in financial forecasting, along with development planning, assessments of potential savings from component upgrades.
Combined Leisure Solutions 01903 785495
www.combinedleisuresolutions.co.uk
SPN April 2015 11
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