The Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex is a leisure centre in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

, operated by Fusion Lifestyle on behalf of the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...

. The complex is centred on the Grade II listed outdoor swimming pool, known as Uxbridge Lido until 2010, when the newly built centre and refurbished pool were opened. A new indoor pool was built beside the

lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...

as part of the redevelopment works, opening in February 2010, followed a day later by the outdoor pool. The outdoor pool was built in 1935 in the "Moderne" or

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, at a cost of £24,500. It was closed in 1998 and became subject to heavy vandalism. In 2007 it was announced that the pool would be restored in time to be used as a training pool for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Description

The oldest parts of the complex are the unheated outdoor swimming pool, two fountains, an entrance building and a grandstand structure, all of which are Grade II listed. At opening the pool measured , and took the form of an elongated twelve-sided star in plan – it is the only remaining example in the country. It was the second longest open-air swimming pool remaining in London. The two fountains are arranged in a line, one to the north and one to the south of the pool. These are octagonal concrete structures, each with a base and central column supporting two basins. The concrete and brick entrance building at the northern end of the complex has a single storey and has a splayed "U"-shape in plan. The short central brick bay features a pay window. The grandstand on the eastern side of the lido is built of reinforced concrete and has three levels including the open flat roofed viewing terrace. As part of the new development, the Hillingdon House Farm athletics track nearby was refurbished to become part of the new complex. The building beside the outdoor pool comprises a new pool, sports hall, health and fitness facilities, café and changing rooms.

History

The architect for the lido was G. Percy Trentham. Before the opening of the pool, many residents swam in a section of the

Frays River Frays River is a semi-canalised short river in England that branches off the River Colne at Uxbridge Moor and rejoins it at West Drayton. It is believed to be a mainly man-made anabranch north of the confluence with the River Pinn to feed wat ...

near Harefield Road, and the

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

. The construction of the buildings and pool cost £24,500 at that time, and 120 local unemployed men were employed to complete the works. The opening ceremony for the pool was held on 31 August 1935, organised by Uxbridge Urban District Council. The chairman of the council, Reverend Luther Bouch, performed the opening, while Alf Price became the first superintendent.Skinner 2008, p.30 Athletes participating in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London were housed at the nearby

RAF Uxbridge RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Uxbridge, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, occupying a site that originally belonged to the Hillingdon House estate. The British Government purchased the estate in 1915, three years ...

, and used the pool to train in. Hillingdon Council closed the pool after the 1982 season and did not open it in 1983. It was then reopened by Uxbridge Pool Action Group in 1984, following a £148,000 grant from the Greater London Council. They installed

solar heating A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water heating, but may refer to large power generating installations such as solar parabolic troughs and sola ...

panels and a huge

water slide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to s ...

, as well as additional dry-side activities to try to improve the viability of the pool. However, it did not prove to be a viable proposition in the long-term and the Council eventually took the pool back in 1989. Lidos historian Andy Hoines wrote: "Subsequently the pool closed down a second time, but was reopened again by the Yiewsley Pool Trust by the time of a visit I made in 1993. The current closure after the 1998 season was prompted by damage attributed to incursions from travellers, as well as the perceived need for major expenditure to bring the facilities up to recent

Health and Safety standards Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

." The pool, pavilion building, entrance building and both fountains were granted Grade II listed status in 1998. Despite the listing and the pool closing to the public, the buildings were subjected to heavy vandalism.

Restoration

In October 2000 the London Borough of Hillingdon proposed building a indoor community pool with movable booms and floors beside the outdoor pool, with a centre for performance training. Under the plans, the outdoor pool would be restored to allow for outdoor swimming, and the new development would include a health and fitness suite, restaurant, health suite and sports hall.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

would oversee the project to restore the lido.

Planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

for the main swimming pool and sports centre was granted on 8 June 2005. In January 2008, the contractors Leadbitter, with a design team headed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, began work on the £21m swimming pool complex that would be used by budding Olympians in the run up to the 2012 games.

Sharron Davies Sharron Elizabeth Davies, (born 1 November 1962) is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships and competed for England in the Commonwealth Games. Davies has attended 12 ...

, the former Olympic swimmer, commenced the building work in a special ceremony. The outdoor pool will be completely restored to its former glory. The athletic track was completed in April 2006, and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Funding was provided by London Borough of Hillingdon (£22m),

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...

(£2.02m),

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

(£1.5m) and the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

(just under £1m). In May 2009 a

topping out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...

ceremony was held, attended by councillors, the construction firm and members of the local residents' association. The indoor pool and sports complex opened to local residents in February 2010, and was officially opened by the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, on 21 March 2010. The unheated outdoor pool re-opened the following day. On 8 September 2010, the 75th anniversary of the first opening of the lido was celebrated at the pool. The South Korean Olympic Team used the centre for training during the 2012 Olympic Games.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Cotton, Carolynne. (1994) ''Uxbridge Past''. London: Historical Publications * Sherwood, Philip. (2007) ''Around Uxbridge Past & Present''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing * Skinner, James. (2008) ''Growing Up in Wartime Uxbridge''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing * Smith, James. (2006)
Liquid assets: the lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain
'. English Heritage

External links

*
Hillingdon Council project website

Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex on Flickr

Lidos in the UK
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