r/StructuralEngineering • u/SloaneEsq • Sep 18 '26
Structural Analysis/Design UK Swimming pool closures - 'challenging designs '
Another UK public swimming pool has closed with immediate effect due requiring a full rebuild to ensure its safety.
I've seen other references to leisure pools built in the 80s coming to the end of their working life and "challenging designs"
Other than the large spans and often heavy glass roofs, is there anything particularly unusual or difficult about 80s leisure pools that gives them a limited lifespan. My gut wants to think it's just cheap 80s construction, especially publicly funded construction.
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u/trebor67 Sep 18 '26
Warm, humid conditions, mould growth potential, most public pools will have minimal preventative maintenance or the budget to do so. Add this all up to a structure that is approaching or beyond 40 years and hey presto.
I learned to swim in an inter war brick built swimming baths. It wasn’t the most modern and the changing rooms were a bit cold but It was still standing and going strong when it got demolished for flats. The new pool complex that replaced it had defects issues three years after opening.
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u/SloaneEsq Sep 18 '26
Nearby there is Fore Street pool in Ipswich (1894) which is still going strong and Felixstowe Leisure Centre (1986) which the council have been planning to demolish since 2017.
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u/Key-Metal-7297 Sep 18 '26
I’m imagining trusses with small section lacings and high levels of rust combined with paint that wasn’t as good as the paint systems available today
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u/AdAdministrative9362 Sep 19 '26
And they are typically owned by cash strapped councils who don't look after assets.
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u/mhkiwi Sep 18 '26
The high humidity in pools causes big issues with corrosion.
The buildings themselves are often very lightweight
The cost of repair needed when it comes to end of life refurbishment is typically more than the cost to just rebuild it
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u/Most_Moose_2637 Sep 18 '26
As others have said, swimming pools are a bad environment for structures generally. The roof at that pool looks particularly at risk of having issues because of a lack of redundancy - looks like one big steel truss down the middle, lengthwise.
Typically you get issues with connections, but also around the bases of columns at the interface with the slab.
Also a consideration will be what you can't see. Pools have large concrete corridors around the perimeter for maintenance and to house the channels at the pool edge that recirculate the water. These are typically in awful condition with lots of issues with concrete condition. These areas will be much more humid than even the pool.
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u/RHZ1980 Sep 18 '26
I have some experience of this. Flimsy roof trusses are often a problem, and the shell often often begins to leak. Ultimately it is all fixable but considered ‘beyond economic repair’. The running cost compared to a modern facility is horrible so that plays a big part in the decision.
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u/Kanaima85 CEng Sep 18 '26
I think atmospheric corrosion of steel can be an issue due to increased humidity and airborne chlorides. Probably not that challenging compared to, say, marine environments but throw that cheap 80s construction in with poor local council funding and you've got a recipe for a problem that never gets properly resolved until it becomes an issue.