Why Hampton Pool Trust feels it’s time to act

Accessibility

• No lift or access to café or sundeck
• No family change or cubicle change for parents with children over 8, or transgender;
• Gym is not fit for purpose, it is undersized and does not provide for people with mobility and accessibility issues. As a community charity, we are looking to use these facilities to promote healthy exercise for such groups;
• One disabled change that doubles as the only cubicle family changing room and baby change

 

Present financial viability

• The Pool at present makes a loss three out of twelve months on average per year. Losses occur during the off-peak months when the use of the Pool is at its minimum, any proposal needs to look at ways to generate and lift income in these off-peak times;
• The gym and studio are well under the standards required to cover this at present. for example, the exercise studio needs to be completely full to financially break even meaning that any low impact activity such as Pilates cannot be run economically as this has less people;
• The current building was built as a summer use only facility in 1959/1960, 57 years ago. The structure and plant are now showing significant signs of aging. For example, the building has been identified as needing a complete re-wiring whilst the borehole is now clogged up and needs restoring. These two items alone are likely to cost in the order of £200-300k;
• At the same time HPT has been in discussions with Thames Water over a number of years. The wider Hampton sewerage system which was built for a much smaller community is at capacity. This now means that a full backwash from the Pool could bring the levels in the sewers to unacceptable levels. Thames Water have said that they are not planning on increasing their pipe capacity and HPT therefore needs to introduce a backwash tank, something that would hold thousands of gallons of water and drip feed this into the mains. The cost of doing this would stretch to around £500,000;
• For the service users at the Pool the Café is small and unavailable to many of the Pool users. There is no accessible access meaning that those with mobility issues or with wheelchairs or buggies are restricted from accessing the terrace. Café usage plummets during rain and poor weather as there is little shelter for customers to meet, eat and drink.

The need to replace the failing and dated infrastructure

• As noted, the wiring is in need a major replacement. This is something that would cost between £200-300k but as a retro-fit it would always be just a patch. Making the building more sustainable can only be achieved by doing a full refurbishment of the main building.
• At the same time the power used by  the Pool is already maxed out. For example, the sauna cannot run at the same time as the pool filters as this threatens to trip the power. As such, a new transformer is needed to balance the existing electricity usage. The Transformer is a UK power networks solution to provide HP with an increased feed as it saves them a long dig from the nearest transformer and saves us the expense of that dig – it should also be noted that UK Power Networks will take the opportunity to use that new transformer to increase the capacity of the local street network. The transformer capacity will have far larger capacity than HPs demand.
• The current main pool filters are large and very old dating from 1939 and 1959 and very environmentally inefficient. They waste high volumes of water and use a lot of energy to replace them. Whilst they have some life in them they are likely to need replacing within the next 5-10 years.

 

Upgrading of the Facilities

• This Hampton Pool building was built 57 years ago for a different time and as temporary structure. The building is now tired, expensive to maintain therefore long overdue its first full refurbishment;
• The building is needing a full upgrading of its current facilities and plant the cost of which can’t be covered by the revenue generated from the current running of the Pool and concert revenue. Current fixes have elongated the life span of the existing but whole scale upgrading is  needed within the next 10 years at a cost of XX. (inc new Substation at £100k);
• There has been a lot of public feedback and negativity around the condition of the facilities.

Ensuring the financial future of the pool

• The Pool needs to address the accessibility and infrastructure issues and to put in place a business plan that can provide the capital to make these changes while also ensuring on-goings profits to cover continual maintenance and upkeep and provide financial self-sufficiency;
• The new business plan looks to enhance the facilities for swimmers by increasing the income during the off-peak times. At the same time by addressing the issues such as the plant, energy use, and physical fabric we expect to reduce the cost of maintenance and repairs by 40%.

The Vision

• To make the Pool self-sustaining, profitable all year around and financially sustainable.
• To make a community facility that is exemplary and accessible by all
• To create a facility that is used by more of the next generation of Hampton and Richmond swimmers not least children, young people and their families
• To provide a greater range of activities for people with disabilities or health conditions
• To create a sustainable and green building with low running costs which work with the financial model and provides a payback on the investment.
• To provide a facility that evidences to others the successful way to run an all year round, income generating facility

 

Project brief

• To provide an exemplar and aspirational facility that is sustainable; with the ability to split the construction into financially procurable phases to allow for minimal or no closure in operation of the Pool utilising modular fast build techniques to minimise the disruption from the build process.
• Changing Facilities – increase and improve the changing facilities by keeping the existing Male and Female change and adding in dedicated Cubicle Family and accessible change.
• Improved Café and access – Providing a year round sheltered space that keeps the view and link to the pool/Bushy Park whilst creating family and disabled access, and keeping the open air sun deck;
• Make the building accessible – adding a Lift to the upper levels;
• Use of Sustainable materials and construction methods;
• Renewable Energy systems that payback within 10-15 years – maximising payback
• Accessible and viable Gym and Studios/Multi-use space;
• Upgrading Staff change/Office/First Aid and Support spaces
• Dedicated Storage;
• Exemplar & Secure Cycle storage.

Proposed response & phasing

• Planning Permission is needed before any commitment to funds/grants can be secured.
• Only build when the full construction and implementation costs of a phase have been achieved.
• 4 main phases to allow for building to remain open and operational throughout
• Phase 1:
• Infrastructure, electrics, transformer, lift
• Phase 2:
• New extension and plant renovation with sustainable energy in which to decant Gym/Studio/Shop/Staff Facilities/First Aid Rm/New Plant Room and for temporary change during phase 3.
• Phase 3:
• Refurbishment of the existing ground floor building to provide increased changing capacity/Showers/Sauna/Seam Room/Renovation & Refurbishment of the existing structure.
• Phase 4:
• Café extension and first floor renovation with new structure separated from old.

 

 

Scope

• Old Areas verses New Areas – especially the sun deck and café is a bone of contention.

Fundraising and business case

• You need a scheme on which to fundraise
• Funders will not commit to any funding until you have planning permission for a viable scheme.
• The funding that is available from people such as the Hampton Fuel Allotments or Sports England is focused on delivering services that increase participation by children and young people as well as those who lead more inactive lifestyles
• By creating an exemplar facility with improved wet and dry side facilities we will be able to draw in a wider group of people and therefore evidence to grant and social investors that the work delivered at the Pool is life changing.
• By splitting the scheme into phases and having a layered business case HPT is able to deliver the scheme as and when funding becomes available. Already we have around £2M available to the scheme. With a successful planning application and a better understanding of costs we are then able to approach a number of key funders to see how this funding can be matched.
• Our hope is that we can attract at least up to £1M in grants, donations and fundraising events .
• At the same time we are also looking at softloans that will take built on the savings that will be made through cutting our energy and maintenance costs as well as the increased income that comes through the growth in the gym.
• All parties involved whether it be HPT or the YMCA are committed to a sustainable business. We are committed to ensuring that swimming remains at Hampton Pool for many years to come, through doing this development in a sustainable, steady way we believe we can deliver this outcome.