Key workers will be first to swim in new look Riverside swimming pool

Published: 28 May 2021

Key workers will be the first to be offered a swim at the new look Riverside Leisure Centre when the pool reopens shortly.

The pool and health suite are due to reopen on July 24 after a massive rebuilding programme at the centre.

During a site visit to see the pool starting to be filled with water, Cllr Duncan Wood, Lead Councillor for Leisure and Physical Activity, said: “The first people we want to bring in as a small thank you for all that they have done will be the key workers - the NHS workers and others who have made such a difference to our lives.

“They made it possible to get through the various lockdowns, and as a small thank you to them it will be the key workers who will be first in that pool.”

Cllr Wood said he was delighted that pool and health suite will finally reopen this summer.

He said: "It has been so long and this is such a key resource, as part of the offer that we as a leisure service can provide.

“It’s a great pool and is very popular. We’ve taken the opportunity to bring the pool up to date and a lot of the materials we are using will be the same quality we are using at St Sidwell’s Point, which will open later this year as well.”

The huge transformation programme has created:

• New changing areas and first floor changing rooms with new tiling, wall cladding, cubicles
• New coinless lockers which open electronically - there will be no need for coins anywhere inside the leisure centre
• New Health Suite which has been rebuilt with a steam room, sauna and spa pool
• New acoustic baffles and wall acoustic material fitted above the pool
• New flooring on the balcony and seating area has been fitted and modern spectator seating installed
• New plant serving the main and learner pools, alongside other mechanical and electrical engineering work, to improve the future operation of the facility

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