Design concept revealed for revival of Saltcoats outdoor swimming pool
Plans to revive the forgotten outdoor pool in Saltcoats have taken major steps forward after design concepts were shown to locals.
Last updated 27th Apr 2023
Plans to revive the forgotten outdoor pool in Saltcoats have taken major steps forward after design concepts were shown to locals in a town hall meeting last night.
Well over a hundred people gathered in the Saltcoats town hall on Wednesday 26 April to see the new designs drafted up by tidal pool architects Octupi.
The idea for the pool came when local community and wellbeing group SPLASH formed in late 2021, and immediately had plans to put the outdoor pool back into use.
Last year they had the pool drained to assess it and were granted council funding for a feasibility study.
Now, architects have taken inspiration from similar projects across the world that have been deemed a success and drawn up a design and full report of what the area could look like with proper investment.
The picture of the pool shows a simplistic design that would allow safe access to the water as well as a range of uses for it.
READ MORE: First steps taken to restore Saltcoats forgotten outdoor pool
Chris Romer-Lee from Octupi architects is the man who came up with the design. He’s telling Greatest Hits Radio that the demand for these projects is growing across the country, and Saltcoats has a lot of potential for the project.
He said: “What we want to do is ensure that people can first of all get back in there and swim, but also use it for a wide range of uses as well.
“Paddle boarders and kayakers can also use it. So, in one of our drawings we’ve shown half the pool zoned off for teaching paddleboarding and half for swimmers. There are floating platforms in the pool as well for swimmer to swim out to.
“Tidal pools are coming back because it is a cheap and easy way of getting people back into natural water safely.
“It naturally refreshes the water as well, so high tide the water is cleaned out and a new body of water replaces it.
“They’re making a resurgence and we’re finding we have more demand than ever from councils across the country who would like this, and also people are just realising that swimming outdoors is just a lot more fun than swimming indoors.”
According to the feasibility study, the project would cost £500,000.
However, SPLASH, the group behind the revival bid are confident they can secure funding and are looking to start work on the pool as soon as possible.
Chairwoman Irene Campbell is also speaking with Greatest Hits Radio and says the benefits for the area would outweigh the cost for the pool.
She said: ““The hopes are as soon as possible, so we will be looking at various funding streams which we have already started looking at and if we can get the funding, we require in this financial year we would be looking to get the project started as early as we can next year.”
“It would bring a range of benefits from an influx in footfall, to a major improvement in peoples physical and mental wellbeing, and it would just be fantastic for Saltcoats.”