Opening of new swimming pools in Katowice is approaching

Most of the construction and finishing works have already been finished and at the beginning of the next year the acceptances of the pool in Gen. J. Hallera St. in Katowice should commence. Due to additional works, construction of the swimming pool in T. Kościuszki St. will take a few weeks longer. Innovative solutions have been adopted in both facilities, including a permanently installed drowning prevention system which is the first of its type in Poland. The facilities have also been equipped with advanced photovoltaic systems partly covering the energy demand of the facility. The investor of the swimming pool is the City of Katowice, while the general contractor is NDI based in Sopot.

‘I want whole families to be able to spend their free time actively. Therefore, the designs of each pool provide for, among other things: a 6-lane sports pool with dimensions of 25×16 m, a teaching pool, a paddling pool for children equipped with attractions, the spectator seating, a slide, a gym (at the pools in Hallera St. and Kościuszki St.), sports halls, saunas. Swimming pools in districts instead of one aqua park mean that the majority of Katowice residents will have access to a swimming pool within a radius of five kilometres. An additional advantage of the facilities is the innovative equipment that will increase safety, thanks to the permanent use of the drowning prevention system for the first time in Poland,’ says Marcin Krupa, Mayor of the City of Katowice.

Completion of works on facades of the buildings, land development, painting works, delivery and assembly of equipment as well as the installation of the drowning prevention system and the BMS (Building Management System) and construction of the tram platform serving the swimming pool in Kościuszki St. are yet to be performed. The installation of bottoms of leisure pools, cladding, ceilings and parts of systems is also underway in the swimming pool, which will be completed a little later due to additional work. The swimming pool in Hallera St. has already been filled with water for testing purposes, and training and initial acceptances at this facility are scheduled for the first weeks of January.
‘We are currently launching the modern water treatment technology’ says Arkadiusz Truszkowski, Project Director from NDI. It consists of vacuum filters, UV lamps, and a system for the production of sodium hypochlorite based on the membrane electrolysis of sodium chloride. In addition to increasing safety and comfort of use, these solutions ensure the highest water quality and low energy and chemical reagents consumption.

Another interesting element applied in the investments is the BMS used to monitor and control the infrastructure and security systems used in the facility under one system. Thanks to the flexibility of the software and its modular design, it is possible to collect information from other systems, introduce software dependencies, and create functions for monitoring, adjustment, control and informing the user of the current functioning of the facility.

The DPS – Drowning Prevention System – aimed at increasing safety in the facility, based on advanced algorithms of behavioural image analysis from underwater cameras, as well as a power system supported by photovoltaics will also be installed in the facility. This means the use of an advanced, environmentally friendly technology that will result in an improvement in the condition of the environment by reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. The designed photovoltaic system has a power of 38.75 kWp. It involves the conversion of solar energy (solar radiation) into electricity. In the photovoltaic panel, solar radiation is converted into direct current. Direct current is transported through solar wires to the inverter, where direct current (DC) is converted into alternating current (AC). The energy produced in this way is supplied by means of electric wires to the internal electrical installation.
Nine air handling units and a network of approximately 5,000 m2 of ventilation ducts will ensure the right conditions for comfortable use of the rooms. In the pool hall itself, the air supply is provided by a system of slot diffusers mounted in the pool beach floor, and the extraction takes place through built-in exhaust grilles.
Pools in numbers (for each pool):

• usable area – 4,675.73 m2
• development area – 2,989.55 m2
• water surface area – 657.30 m2
• volume of the gymnasium – 4564.00 m3
• volume of the entire building – 31,379.0 m3
• max clear height of the pool hall – 9.3 m
• 25*16 m sports pool (6 lanes)
• leisure pool
• slide with a length of 80m
• sports hall (gymnasium)
• saunas
• 2850 cubic metres of concrete and 182.5 tonnes of steel were used to build each swimming pool.