Coventry Destination Water Leisure Facility
Coventry’s brand new £36.7m waterpark is taking shape ahead of its opening in spring 2019.
Designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, the leisure centre will house a waterpark with a range of slides, a lazy river, wave pool, day spa, 25 metre swimming pool, 120 station gym, dance studio and squash courts. Work on site began in summer 2017 with Buckingham Group acting as the main contractor.
The leisure centre’s design incorporates a unique, circular shape to reflect the city’s weaving past. Internally, the layout is open plan across three levels. The majority of entrances to the water rides will be located on level three, along with a viewing area that will provide all visitors with a bird’s eye view of the centre.
One of the most important aspects of the new facility will be its accessibility. Each level is connected via a spiralling ramp to ensure all ages and abilities can make the most of their time at the centre.
Having decided on the layout of the pool areas and adrenaline pumping slides, FaulknerBrowns Architects approached water display specialist Ustigate to request a design for the remaining interior. “High Octane” and “Sensory Overload” were the end client’s key words to describe their requirement and they knew Ustigate could be trusted to respond with a dynamic aquatic play scheme that would excite and thrill every water player. FaulknerBrowns Architects especially liked the aseptically pleasing and innovative products designed and manufactured by Ustigate’s long-term partner Vortex International, a world leader in aquatic solutions with 7000 installations in 45 countries, renowned for their award-winning products.
Ustigate’s challenge was to engineer an aquatic scheme that would deliver the maximum wow factor, providing all the interactive elements and the biggest splashes around all of the existing items, whilst retaining the DDA compliancy. The project required bespoke design to account for the curvature of the building and the Bowl plunge pool.
Ustigate’s aim was to incorporate as many products with differing water effects and spraying directions as possible to enhance Coventry’s all-round aquatic play experience. The access all areas ramp will include five wall sprays that shoot several over-head arched streams of water across the course and into the water park level below, and the lazy river will have a tunnel of colourful flatbed buckets that tilt and release stimulating splashes from above.
Many standout design features have been incorporated into the inclusive Splashpad, located at the base of the ramp. A variety of gentle ground sprays have been placed at the entrance to gently greet and welcome each new arrival. There are many fun-filled elements including two Elevation play structures with decks, water slides, and accessibility bridges and slopes that enable all visitors to enjoy spraying leaves, spinning flowers, cannon fun and tipping buckets. The tallest product on the Splashpad will be the exhilarating ‘Superwave’, armed with a turbine and standing 6.29 metres high, it will be creating the biggest splash and soaking everyone in its path.
Coventry Destination Water Leisure Facility will be a welcome addition to the city’s landscape, providing a high-quality destination that is accessible to everyone with the potential to kick-start further regeneration. The opening in spring 2019 will coincide with Coventry’s year as European City of Sport.
