Westbury Swimarium

Client: The Swim School Ltd

Value: £630,000

Services Provided: Concept Development, Planning Stage Design, Planning Application, Detailed Design, Construction Stage Support. RIBA Stages: 1-6

The Swimarium, saw the change of use and retrofit of a dilapidated warehouse into a state-of-the-art swim school for children.

gcp produced the original concept design, obtained planning consent, and developed the detailed design for on-site delivery, working alongside specialist suppliers.

Despite the very tight site constraints, gcp was able to deliver a 15 metre by 5 metre above ground swimming pool as well as a viewing gallery and changing facilities, whilst ensuring full accessibility for all. To provide a suitable internal environment and minimise running costs, the warehouse underwent a complete thermal upgrade and received a new mechanical system which required careful coordination to work with the existing and new structures.

gcp also helped secure grant aid for the PV and battery installation.

Different zones of the Swimarium required different slabs: a piled and insulated slab for the pool, a thinner reinforced concrete slab for general circulation and an insulated lean-mix to the raised teaching platforms. With overlaps in substrate, gcp produced a slab layout plan. This allowed the contractor to easily set out the different zones and slabs from the outset; preventing costly build changes down the line. The general arrangement of the site was highly constrained. The tolerances were so fine that gcp elected to model everything in three dimensional detail. The final pool location became an exercise in millimetre precision and coordination. gcp also coordinated the plant room, which included numerous fire-stopped penetrations and large items of plant.