The pool is now open!

After a gruelling six-month refurbishment project, the pool reopened on Saturday 28 April.

North Devon Council leader Brian Greenslade cut the ribbon and declared the pool officially open. He was joined by members of the team responsible for the refurbishment project and Britain’s Got Talent star Merlin. Also among the guests were Julie Evett and her daughter, Rose, who helped to design the new disabled facilities, and Mary and Maurice Cooper, who have swum at the pool every day for the last 40 years – they were thrilled to get back in the water again!

It was great to see that within minutes of opening the learner pool was full of young swimmers keen to get back to their lessons.

There are still a few minor things that need sorting out behind the scenes, but re-opening the pool on time was the aim – and we did it!

Councillor Brian Greenslade cutting the ribbon

The team on poolside

The learner pool

New changing rooms and lockers

The new health suite

The new showers

Mary and Maurice take their first dip

Julie Evett and daughter Rose test the new hoist

Merlin showing off his skills

Merlin wows young visitors with his tricks

The scaffolding’s gone and the painting begins

Most of the messy work has now been done and it feels like we are finally entering the home stretch.
 
The scaffolding has been taken down and the brand new ceiling tiles have all been hung.
 
The pool interiors are being blasted this week and will be given a fresh, clean coat of paint at the weekend. The pool lines and markings will then also need to be painted.
 
Some of the retiling has already begun but this is a massive job and should take another couple of weeks to complete.
 
We hope to announce our official opening date soon!

Look at that shiny new ceiling!

The scaffolding has gone!

New floor tiles go down in the wetside changing area

The changing rooms are starting to take shape

Work has begun on the layout of the wetside changing area and it’s really starting to take shape. Concrete blocks are going in to form the layout, services are in place and some of the walls have already been plastered. 

In addition, the new damp proof membrane is going down, repairs to the window frames are nearing completion and the ceiling grid is now in place, ready to hang the new ceiling tiles.

The ceiling grid

The damp proof membrane on poolside

Work goes on

A lot of the “behind the scenes” repair work is now complete and we are starting to see some real progress. 

Most of the repair work to the support columns beneath the pool is now complete. 

The contractors have also finished the challenging task of installing a new timber frame in the roof space, which will support the new ceiling. All of the roof steelwork has been inspected and repaired, and the contractors will start to put the new ceiling tiles up from today. 

Unfortunately some of the window frames were found to be rotten and we are having to replace them. As with any job this size, there are some things we didn’t know about and we only discovered this when the old tiles were stripped away. We don’t think there will be any more nasty surprises to uncover now! 

When all of the high work is done the scaffolding can come down and our attention will turn to the pool.

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Back to work

Following the Christmas and New Year break it’s back to work and things are still on schedule at the leisure centre.

The diving boards have now been removed, as have the damp proof membrane and most of the swimming pool ceiling. The scaffolding now fills the entire pool, from floor to ceiling. This will provide a safe platform for repair work to begin on the roof steelwork.

The contractors are now surveying the electrics and will be taking out any that are no longer needed.

NDC Project Officer, Lucy Tomlinson, looks down on the pool from the spectator gallery

The poolside tiles have all been removed

The final pieces of the intricate scaffolding are put in place

Scaffolding in the deep end

More scaffolding!

Kevin Jobe from Midas shows Councillor Derrick Spear around the site

The last post of 2011

The contractors are now busy removing the old damp-proof membrane from the poolside and wet changing areas. They have also nearly finished taking out the old diving boards, which has proved to be quite a tough job!

All of the scaffolding is now up in the pool hall and the old suspended ceiling is being taken down so that the roof steelwork treatment can begin. All of the steel supports under the main tank have now been broken out and inspected. Work has begun to treat the old/corroded columns.

Work is due to stop on 23 December until 3 January 2012.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The drilling is almost done

Most of the tiles and screed have been removed from around the pools, and the wet-side changing area is looking very bare!
 
The scaffolding has almost reached the ceiling. When it is all in place the ceiling will be taken down so that the contractors can assess the underside of the roof.

The wetside changing area

The poolside stripped of tiles

The scaffiolding is growing!

The tiles and screed

Working through the night

Things are moving on at the leisure centre.

Pneumatic drills have been working through the night to break out all of the tiling on the poolside and in the wetside changing area. They can’t do it during the day as it makes such a racket!

The contractors are also starting to look at the steel columns that support the pool, assessing what needs to be done to repair them.

The tiling in the changing area has be broken up

The steel columns that support the pool

The scaffolding is going up

The contractors have made good progress this week.

The internal walls of the changing area have been reduced to rubble and scaffolding has been put up in both of the pools. This scaffolding will eventually be built right up to allow for work to begin on the ceilings.

An area to the west of the building has been fenced off and the ground is currently being levelled. This will be for the contractors’ site hut and storage area.

A couple of windows have been taken out so that rubble can be removed safely from the building through a waste tunnel.

The internal walls of the changing area are down

The jacuzzi is now out of action!

The pools with their scaffolding in place