Swimming pools in Katowice are taking shape

Three swimming pools with sports halls are under construction in Katowice. Approximately 2,600 m3 of concrete and approximately 175 tonnes of steel are needed for the construction of each facility. The implementation of swimming pools in Kościuszki St. and in Hallera St. started in mid-2017, while the implementation in Wczasowa St., several months later. The decision to implement this investment was made by the Mayor of Katowice, Marcin Krupa, who included it in his election programme, “Contract with the Residents of Katowice”. Today, Mayor Marcin Krupa watched with the media the construction works underway, which are at an advanced stage in all of the pools.

‘The swimming pools in Katowice are taking shape. Construction works in Brynów and Burowiec are expected to be completed this year. Afterwards, there is the stage of acceptance procedures and commissioning of the equipment – so that at the beginning of next year we can make these facilities available to residents,’ says Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice. ‘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, wellness rooms (at the pool in Wczasowa St.), gym (at the pools in Hallera St. and Kościuszki St.), full-size sports halls, saunas. I also decided on a preferential price for the residents of Katowice, who will pay half of the price for a ticket – PLN 8 for a full-price ticket and PLN 4 for a half-price ticket,’ adds the Mayor.

The works are most advanced on buildings located in Kościuszki St. in Brynów, and in Hallera St. in Szopienice-Burowiec. The contractor for these pools – NDI – will soon reach the building shell stage. The last days are advanced roofing works, as well as a number of works inside these facilities. It is worth emphasising that the buildings will have alu-steel basins, parts of which have already been installed. The last elements – the substrate – will be inserted at the last stage of works, when the whole will be welded and then filled with water.

‘The basins are made of stainless steel, which, due to its very good anticorrosive properties, is a material dedicated for use in aggressive environments, such as swimming pools or sea water,’ says Project Director, Arkadiusz Tuszkowski from NDI. ‘It should also be noted that the City of Katowice has decided to use a modern pool water treatment system, which includes vacuum filters, UV lamps and a system for the production of sodium hypochlorite from common salt, based on the membrane electrolysis. These solutions ensure the highest water quality and low energy, water and chemical reagents consumption,’ adds the Director.

The method of assembly of the pool involves two main stages of works. The first is the assembly of the walls of the pool with overflow shafts and bottom channels, which, after they are anchored and welded together, are tested for weld tightness. The overflow edge tolerance on the whole perimeter is +/- 2mm. The second stage is the welding of bottom sheets and the installation of complementary elements such as railings, nozzles, starting posts, turning boards, lane ropes, overflow grating, reflectors, etc. Pools of this type, due to their tightness and long-term reliability, ensure very high comfort of use for the pool operator.

The next stage of work is the implementation of plasterwork and interior glazing. The assembly of the slide will also begin as well as works on arranging the area outside – a road system and car parks will be built.

What will be in each of the buildings, what attractions await the residents?

Each of the designed facilities is a one-storey building, containing:

• Foyer – from the foyer, you can access a shop with a coffee point, entrance to the locker room part for both the pool and the gym, as well as the passage to the swimming pool spectator seating. In addition, there is the outerwear cloakroom and general sanitary facilities, including those for people with disabilities, ticket offices and administrative facilities of the object. Access to the spectator seating is provided between the sports and swimming pool part. Emergency exits from the spectator seating are provided directly outside the building.

• Pool section – in the part of the entrance pavilion, there is a locker room and sanitary complex for the swimming pool. The project provides for a mixed locker room – 240 lockers with a set of 20 changing rooms. Behind the changing rooms and the locker room are men’s and women’s sanitary complexes also intended for people with disabilities.

• A sports pool with dimensions of 25x16m (6-lane) and a leisure and swimming pool for teaching how to swim with a separate place for leisure (neck massage, wall massage, water-air massage, air geyser, water mushroom, air benches, jacuzzi, paddling pool for children, landing pool for the slide). There will be spectator seating for 115 people by the pool, a tower enabling reaching a height of over 8 m, a slide with a length of 80 m, running partly outside and partly inside the facility. In the swimming pool part, there is also a sauna complex (Turkish sauna, two Finnish saunas, rest room, cooling barrel).

• Sports section – in the entrance pavilion section, the “dry” sports section of the facility is located, i.e.: a gym, fitness room and sports hall. The entire sports area has its own reception /customer service point with a waiting room.

• Technical facilities – the construction of a partial basement of the facility, allowing access to all pools, which is necessary for technological reasons, as well as additional fan rooms located under the gym is planned. In addition, it is planned to locate in the basement such rooms as: swimming pool chemicals storage, central heating node, electrical rooms, and, in the bypass of the pools, water treatment plants with filters, pumps and expansion tanks. Access to the basement level is planned both directly from the outside of the building as well as from the staircase of the slide tower – closed to the pool customers.

How will the pool surroundings change?

Land development includes:

• reconstruction of devices and relocation of clashing networks,

• new underground infrastructure,

• roads and pedestrian routes in green areas,

• car parks:

o Brynów, Kościuszki St. – cars 186 lots, buses – 4 lots.

o Ligota – Zadole, Wczasowa St. – cars 94 lots, buses – 2 lots.

o Szopienice – Burowiec, – Hallera St. / Konna St.– cars 95 lots, buses – 2 lots

• greenery,

• accessibility for people with disabilities,

• fire protection (fire water supply, fire roads),

• elements of streetscaping,

• bicycle stands,

• fencing,

• lighting,

• connecting the external surveillance.

Pools in numbers

• usable area – 4,675.73 m2

• building area – 2,989.55 m2

• water surface area – 657.30 m2

• volume of the pool hall – 14,884.00 m3

• volume of the gymnasium – 4,564.00 m3

• volume of the entire building – 31,379.00 m3

• max. clear height of the pool hall – 9.3 m

• number of seats in the pool spectator seating – 115

• slide length – 80 m.

• number of lockers – 240