A city swimming pool is to close over the school summer holidays for major repairs – just four years after it opened.
The pools in Worcester will be shut for 12 weeks so “slippy” floor tiles can be replaced.
The two pools at Perdiswell Leisure Center were only opened in 2017 and the repairs are costing a total of £643,449.
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Worcester City Council, which runs the complex, will be replacing the tiles with “anti slip” ones.
Both the main eight-lane pool and the smaller multi-use one will shut from June 20 to September 11.
This is the main school holidays, but the council says they have chosen this period as “fewer people will be swimming indoors”.
Other facilities at the leisure centre, including the gym, exercise classes, outdoor pitches and tennis courts, will remain open as usual throughout the summer.
Worcester City Council, and Freedom Leisure which operates the leisure center on its behalf, are working on alternatives for people to take a dip over the summer.
This includes members being allowed to use the Malvern Splash pool, and details of additional arrangements will be announced soon.
The closure and repair works are expected to be rubber-stamped by councilors at meetings this month.
Lloyd Griffiths, the council’s corporate director of operations, homes and communities, said: “This is a major piece of work and, unfortunately, it does require us to completely close the pool hall for 12 weeks.”
He said the work had been delayed by the pandemic.
The cost of the repairs is £323,329, and there will be an extra payment of £320,120 to Freedom Leisure for the loss of income.
Speaking previously, the council’s deputy director of governance, Sian Stroud, said the tiles passed safety tests when they were first installed in 2017.
She said whilst the slippy floor was an “ongoing issue” it was not a “major safety concern.”
Speaking at a council meeting last June, Ms Stroud said: “We procured tiles that met the industry standards and the health and safety executive standard.
“There is only definitive standard for tile slipperiness. In good faith, both the council and its appointed contractors procured a tile that met the standards, but experience has been that it is not a satisfactory standard.”
She said they had received “a number of complaints” about the floor, but only one where a serious injury had been reported.
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