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Making The Spa at InterContinental London – The O2 Instagram-able!

Making The Spa at InterContinental London – The O2 Instagram-able!
Written by Amy

Making The Spa at InterContinental London – The O2 Instagram-able!Luxury pools have always been a big attraction for hotel guests and the growing interest in wellness has given a tremendous boost to high-end hotels that offer the complete spa experience.  According to Spa Creators’ 2016 market analysis  UK consumers make an estimated 6 million visits per year to spas throughout Britain.   InterContinental London – The O2 on Greenwich Peninsula is capitalising on this trend by adding extensive, luxurious spa facilities, including a swimming pool, spa, steam and sauna room, to complement its gym, massage and therapy rooms.

“We’re aiming to become the number 1 luxury spa in Greenwich,” said Operations Director, Heather Hamilton.  “The pool is a big step towards achieving that goal.  The new facilities allow us to offer the entire spa experience and our guests love the fact that our pool is larger than the average pool in a London hotel.”

Creating the right ambience for the spa facilities is essential to attracting new and repeat clients.  InterContinental’s contractors, Grove Developments, selected London Swimming Pool Company (LSPC) for the project.  Famed for designing and building luxury pools at many of London’s prestigious addresses, LSPC has over 5o pool and spa design awards, and brought this skill to bear by creating a beautiful pool which is easy to manage and energy efficient.

The award-winning[1] pool at InterContinental London – The O2 has been built on the ground floor, rather than in the basement, to ensure the spa is light, airy and seductive.  The bespoke design includes a large main pool (17 x 7 metres and 1.2 metres deep) with a waterfall that cascades from the pool and spa dividing wall.

The smaller award-winning spa pool[1] is not a run-of-the-mill acrylic one, but a bespoke concrete design measuring 4.4 x 2.7 metres (0.9 metres deep) with a lounger at each end of the central bench. The loungers have bubble trays which give full air massaging, and the bench has both back and calf water/air mixture jets for relaxing massages.  Two AstralPool neck-jet water cannons send exhilarating bursts of water into the spa pool.

The pool interior has been finished with Waxman Ceramic blue mosaic tiles, and underwater lighting is by Eva Optic.  To complete the tranquil atmosphere, the pool and spa surround has been finished with large format porcelain tiles in a creamy colour.

The pool/spa plantroom is conveniently located 10 metres from the pool.  It is equipped with Astral Arctic filters (10.50 mm x 2) and Badu pumps (90/25 1.5 hp x 2) which maintain pool functionality at optimum performance.  LSPC also retro-fitted an automatic backwash system to make backwashing very easy. A simple push button mechanism on the electrical control panel stops, starts and times the backwashing process, while separate levers enable the in-house pool engineer to control the flow-direction of water.

Keeping the pool water pristine is vital.  Heather Hamilton said: “There is never any chlorine smell and the pool/spa water is consistently clear thanks to water flow four times a day and the efficient automatic Bayrol Analyt chlorine dosing controller and Triogen UV system.”

InterContinental London – The O2 offers the complete spa experience – from swimming and exercise to relaxation and treatments.

“The spa is a haven for holidaymakers and corporate clients alike and fantastic for spa treats for couples and families who want a relaxing day out.  Our facilities make the hotel very competitive compared to those that can’t offer the full package.  Breaking away from the age-old tradition of locating spas in basements gives the spa lots of daylight which appeals to customers.  To complete the relaxing aura, the soft colours and lighting make our spa Instagram worthy,” said Hamilton.

1] In the 2018 SPATA Pool & Spa Awards both the main pool and the spa pool won industry awards for design excellence. The spa pool won the Gold Award for the best entry in the Inground Commercial Spas & Wellness category and the swimming pool received the Bronze Award in the Commercial Pool of the Year category.

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Amy