Refurbishment of a competition pool in Reigate

The pool was originally constructed in the late 1970s and had not had significant works done since that time.The pool was heated by two oil-fired boilers and had a basic air handling system without any heat reclaim. The management team that run the pool were keen to have the pool running as efficiently and environmentally friendly as possible, to lower the operating costs and to ensure that CO2 emissions were greatly reduced.

Focus

The focus of the project was to design and install plant systems for the heating and air handling that were powered by ground source and water source heat pumps that had been laid around the site, with over 30 coils absorbing heat from the lakes and fields surrounding the hillside the pool is situated on. The management also took the opportunity to have the pool plant equipment replaced with a modern system, capable of surpassing the standards set in BS EN 15288 and matching PWTAG codes of practice for filtration, chemical treatment and circulation.

Project Details

Pool Plant Experts started the construction phase of the project in late March 2021 and commissioned the system for late August 2021, ready for the term-time swimming programme to begin.

The Heating and Air handling works included the partial reconstruction of the roof and the installation of a ceiling to help insulate the pool hall and reduce the volume of air to be maintained, a new duct system and a modern AHU that is capable of 70% heat reclaim, up to 12 turnovers an hour with a CO2 sensor to allow for the speeding up of the airflow and increased air changes depending on the number of people in the building.

The pool plant system boasts two full duty circulation pumps with variable speed drive, three deep bed, medium rate filters with glass media, a UV system, flow meter, an automatic dosing system and a secondary heat exchanger to work alongside the AHU and water source heat pumps.

The pool and surrounds were tanked and retiled and the pool had eight additional inlets added to the system and two large sump drains cut in to allow a more rapid turnover time without increasing the velocity of inlets and outlets.

Members of the pool management team were trained by Pool Plant Experts on the National Pool Plant Operator's Certificate course to give them the knowledge to operate the new systems, and are being provided with ongoing technical support and a maintenance contract.