swimming pools, spas & sauna


The world’s first modular, Olympic-length swimming pool built with a budget of £2m is East London’s only 50m pool, outside of the London Aquatics Centre.


Modular pool makes waves


LEISURE operator Everyone Active and Barking and Dagenham Council jointly funded the 50m swimming pool at Becontree Heath Leisure Centre in Dagenham. Barking and Dagenham has one of


the worst records of obesity and life expectancy levels in Britain. To encourage residents to get active, the council decided to harness the community’s fondness for aquatics by increasing pool space at the centre. The new pool was designed and built by


specialist pool developers, Total Swimming Pools. Founded by Olympians Steve Parry and Adrian Turner, Total Swimming Pools has carried out more than 75 modular pool installations over the past decade. Everyone Active chose to partner with the company after successfully collaborating with the organisation on smaller modular pools in Stratford-upon-Avon and Fareham. Unlike traditional concrete pools that are set into the ground, the modular


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alternatives are steel and assembled above ground level, negating the need to dig costly and invasive foundations. This also makes the whole build process much quicker. The project to construct the pool was completed within 12 months, whereas traditional swimming pools often take twice this length of time. The pipework is also laid above the


ground, making it easier to access and maintain throughout the pool’s lifecycle and is thereby more cost-effective. Many modular pools are designed for


short-term use, but the pool at Becontree Heath is engineered to provide the community with aquatic activities for at least three decades. The council also commissioned an


energy centre to be built alongside the pool to supply it with low-carbon heat and hot water. The Combined Heat and Power units (CHPs), which form a key part of the energy centre, also produce low-cost electricity,


which is used to supply energy to hundreds of homes in the area. The additional 500 tonnes of water is


helping thousands more people in the local community to access aquatic activities. The public now enjoy more than 50 additional hours of weekly water space, and moving clubs to train in the 50m pool has freed up space in the existing pools to deliver swim lessons to almost 100 more children every week. “This 50m pool is the latest and greatest


step in the evolution of our modular pools. Squeezing a 50m pool and an energy centre onto a 58m site was quite a challenge, but to now see local people swimming Olympic lengths and hear their lovely feedback makes it all worthwhile,” said Adrian Turner, director of developments at Total Swimming Pools.


www.everyoneactive.com www.totalswimmingpools.co.uk


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