Objective
Woking Borough Council, in conjunction with leisure partner Freedom Leisure, was looking to carry out a series of phased upgrades at Pool in the Park in Woking’s town centre. Pool in the Park is a popular leisure centre offering a range of facilities for the local community including a 25m competition pool and an extensive Learn to Swim programme. To modernise the centre for continued use and increasing capacity, Mountjoy were appointed to undertake the work required to achieve this.
Solution
The first three phases of the improvement work addressed some structural issues with the pool section’s roof and building envelope, including strengthening the roof beams and spectator gallery. New glazing upgraded heating and cooling systems were also installed, providing a fully refurbished atrium area.
The fourth, fifth and sixth phases were a later addition to the contract, initially comprising the transformation of the pool’s changing room facilities: these now incorporate equipment such as hoists, curtains, adult-sized changing benches and enough space for carers so that individuals with a range of disabilities are able to use the changing areas safely.
Following on from this, we refurbished the centre’s café area through the creation of new cold rooms and a chiller room, a new café servery and associated display cabinets and new internal finishes.
Finally, to complete the overall scheme, we carried out the conversion of an open balcony area into four physiotherapy suites and an office along with associated works.
Each phase of the work was programmed in consultation with the centre’s management team to ensure uninterrupted access to the centre for the local community. The overall project was completed in January 2021, ready for the centre to prepare their programme in anticipation for their post-lockdown public re-opening.