Re-opening of Oasis Centre in Swindon could be a step closer
Plans for a dome on the building were given the green light by its owners.
A potentially significant obstacle to the development of the oasis Centre with a new dome, and getting it re-opened, may have been overcome.
The Twentieth Century Society, which was instrumental in getting the dome and pool of the original 1976 building listed, doesn’t object to the owners’ new plan for a dome covered in “bubbles” like the Eden Project in Cornwall.
When the leaseholder of the building Seven Capital put forward plans to rebuild the centre without the dome The society, which exists to support and protect the architecture of the last century, objected.
It then went on to ask the government to list the dome and pool, making it much harder to remove legally.
But it has not objected to Seven Capital’s latest plan to rebuild the centre, without the sports hall/music venue, but with a dome covered with layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, with air used to shape the cushions and act as a heat insulator.
The society’s comment on the plan says: “The application seeks to replace the existing polycarbonate glazing panels to the domed roof with an ETFE system.
“The society has no objections to the proposed removal of the existing panels which were installed in 2014 and therefore are not an original part of the design. We also have no objections to an ETFE roof in principle.
One reason for accepting the new roof is that the existing one would still be in place: “The new roof would sit on top of the existing and so the original aluminium domed structure would be retained. The ETFE cushions would also be closer in appearance to the original PVC bubble panels which would be positive. The ETFE roof would enable the Oasis to better meet current environmental standards, which would have clear public benefits.”
The society does want the little cap at the centre of the dome at the top to be kept: “We would encourage the retention, or replication, of the dome cowl as an original feature of the roof.”
The centre has been closed since the autumn lockdown of 2020 when the operators Better said it was impossible to run at a profit particularly given the costs of heating the space above the pool under the dome, which Seven Capital says is poorly insulated and leaks heat badly.
The listing of the building earlier this year means it is much more difficult to knock down the building and start again and Swindon Borough Council’s ruling Conservative group has announced its intention to ask Historic England to delist the building.