VISITOR numbers could boom after Coventry’s new Olympic swimming pool and leisure centre opens next year, the new operators say.
The exciting multi-million pound pool facility could be used more than 200,000 times in its first year, operators CV Life predict.
As work progresses on the 50-metre pool at the Alan Higgs Centre on Allard Way, the company says the new pool will see the centre itself almost double the number of individual visits it receives each year, from around 450,000 to approximately 800,000.
Three quarters of the pool will have a moveable floor which can go right up to deck level or down to the full depth of 1.8 metres.
The pool can also be split into two with a submersible boom which can create a 25-metre pool and a 23.5 metre pool.
Around £60,000 worth of equipment will also be installed in the pool, including a pool lift, to help swimmers with disabilities.
A 632 square foot health suite which includes a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, along with a fitness suite comprising of more than 100 stations is also being built.
All of this will operate alongside the new indoor and outdoor 3G football pitches at the venue – used for Coventry City Football Club’s academy – which now sit adjacent to the swimming pool development, along with an existing four-court sports hall.
Community development manager at CV Life Wendy Jackson said: “The Olympic swimming pool has created a lot of excitement in the community, and is a valuable asset that will be at the heart of the city’s sporting scene.
“The pool will serve a dual purpose of laying the foundations to bring through the next generation of swimmers and hone swimming talent, while also acting as a hub of activity for the whole family to come and enjoy.
“There will be a diverse range of classes hosted every week – such as school swimming lessons, aquatic based sports and swimming galas – while the people of Coventry will also be introduced to synchronised swimming.
“In turn this will generate a significant number of jobs, and from next summer we will begin recruiting for a range of roles such as lifeguards, swimming instructors and cleaners.”
The pool is being constructed by Galliford Try who have 200 staff contributing to the project, which involves removing enough soil to fill 46,875 bath tubs in order to make room for the swimming pool on where the indoor 3G pitch used to sit.
