50m Pools
Sherief El Salamani
Senior Associate,
Architect
We have completed more 50m pools than any other architectural practice.
These special arenas not only provide the battleground for spectacular displays of elite swimming, but also the opportunity to promote wider participation through inclusive legacy programmes.
Our depth of experience affords us the level of technical understanding to design facilities that exceed our client’s expectations, allowing recreational swimmers and elite athletes to reach their potential. As a result, we have designed some of the fastest, fairest and most flexible pools in the world.
Ponds Forge in Sheffield has been acknowledged by swimmers, divers and coaches as one of the finest competition swimming venues in the world. The rigour of our design and the avid attention to detail has created a swimming course which is not only incredibly fast, but fair to all competitors.
A fast swimming course is precisely 50m and no more between touch pads; a discrepancy of 10mm would count for 1/100th of a second in a 100m race. Since concrete tanks can shrink in length over a fifty year lifetime, at Ponds Forge the course is swum between two movable bulkheads which can be micro-adjusted. In addition, water depth across the course length has been calculated to minimise the loss of propulsion imposed by vortex reflection caused by the swimming action of the athletes. Measures have also been taken to ensure all eight swimmers enjoy exactly the same conditions of water depth and control of turbulence to ensure races are not only fast, but fair.
Whilst competitive swimming is a key consideration for any facility with a 50m pool, events of this type do not make up the majority of the usage. Facilities must be flexible enough to accommodate a variety of other uses.
Manchester Aquatics Centre, remains the European benchmark for a facility with international standard competition and training facilities that can operate seamlessly as a day-to-day venue for public swimming. Its success lies in the in-built flexibility of its pools and plan arrangement, which allow the day-to-day support and fitness facilities to be quickly transformed into competition support infrastructure for officials, athletes and the media.
No two of our 50m pool facilities are the same. From the compact National Swimming Academy in Stirling to the spectacular Dubai Aquatics Complex, each has been designed to meet a specific set of requirements for that particular region.
Dubai Aquatics Complex is a spectacular venue built to host the FINA World Swimming Championships and it continues to deliver a legacy for the entire Middle East region. It contains the longest sequence of back to back swimming pools anywhere in the world. The arrangement of two separate 50m pools, a diving pool and two independent sets of diving platforms, provides the flexibility to cater for competition, elite training and everyday use.
Our 50m pools for Loughborough University and the University of Surrey have proved instrumental in the success of the Great Britain swimming team. The state-of-art facilities providing a laboratory for the application of cutting edge sport science research, to help develop the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.
As these facilities continue to build a lasting legacy we continue to develop our thinking. Our next generation of 50m pools have been designed to set a new standard in operational efficiency and flexibility. The adaptable 50 metre pool at Moorways in Derby will contain two booms and two moving floors, affording the facility the flexibility to form three separate 25 metre swimming spaces or a wide variety of other arrangements. The addition of a leisure water feature and learner pool means that the facility is able to meet the needs of swimmers of all ages and ability, providing an experience for all to enjoy.
