Client: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Architects: Hodder Associates
Engineers: Arup
Timber suppliers: Cowley Structural Timberwork
Main contractors: Willmott Dixon Construction

This 32.5m x 68m building houses a 25m x 13m pool, a 7m x 13m instruction and disabled pool, a cafeteria and leisure zone.

The building’s transparency allows users to enjoy views of the surrounding landscaping, even from the pool, while at night the illuminated pool provides a dramatically enticing view for passers-by.

The open-plan interior, with the pool area visible from the cafeteria and leisure zone, scored well in a Centre for Architecture in the Built Environment (CABE) assessment and full disabled access is provided, with well-planned entry areas and ramps.

The building is enclosed by what is believed to be the largest stressed-skin timber roof span in the UK, made up of a series of 1.8m x 25m LVL (laminated veneer lumber) and plywood panels, providing fully finished soffits, prior to erection. Thermal and acoustic insulation was factory-fitted in the panel voids. The roof cladding is stainless steel. Iroko, adurable tropical timber carrying certification, has been used for the external sun and weather screening.

Stressed skin timber roofs are also being used in other swimming pool projects – for example the award-winning design by Bednarski Architects for a centre with a number of similar features, to be located at Thrapston, in East Anglia.