- Rivermead’s two new pools will be filled with approximately 1,700,000 litres of water over a 12 day period.
- 25-metre pool and teaching and diving pool on schedule to open summer 2024.
The new pools at Reading’s flagship Rivermead Leisure Centre will be filled with water over the next few days in preparation for this summer’s grand opening.
Over a 12 day period, the 25-metre, 8-lane main swimming pool, and the teaching and diving pool will be filled with the equivalent of approximately 1,700,000 bottles of water.
Schoolchildren from Oxford Road Community School, alongside representatives from Reading Council, Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) and Pellikaan Construction gathered around the poolside today to celebrate the pool’s filling. The opening date for the two pools and splash pad zone will be announced over the coming weeks.
Key features of the new Rivermead pools include:
- 25m 8-lane main pool with partially movable floor from poolside level to 1.80m deep to allow a range of activities including swimming lessons, community groups, swimming competitions, synchronised swimming, rehabilitation exercises, water aerobics, and much more.
- Teaching and diving pool with 5 metre dive tower; 3 metre springboard and two 1 metre spring dives, with completely moveable floor from poolside level to 3.80m.
- Dive tower safety gate to prevent access to the tower when the dive pool floor is raised.
- Splash pad fun zone for younger children.
- State of the art disabled facilities including a designated ‘changing places’ room, which will house an accessible toilet and shower and changing table and hoist. There will also be ‘pool pods’ for both the main pool and diving pool to enable swimmers with limited mobility, including wheelchair users, to get in and out of the water easily and independently. The new facilities are fully wheelchair accessible, with level access between the changing rooms and the pool.
- Two spectator seating areas able to seat over 250 including 7 wheelchair accessible spaces.