Swimming pool Tielt temporarily closed as a preventive measure: “unsafe to continue to exploit”

The Municipal Swimming Pool dates from 1974. There is still an environmental permit until the end of October 2026 to further expand and modify the swimming pool. A construction with more than 40 years on the clock shows a number of flaws. In recent years, a series of studies have been carried out to closely monitor the sanitary condition of the building.

Precautionary actions

In 2014, the city already took a number of preventive measures to keep approaching the load-bearing capacity of the beams in the roof. When the multi-year plan 2020-2025 was drawn up, the situation of the swimming pool was again thoroughly examined in 2019.

An architectural firm carried out a detailed architectural screening of the pool. It was concluded that the general condition of the pool was still decent given its age, thanks to systematic interventions on the pool, such as the boiler, the wall tiles and the changing rooms.

Better a new building

There was hardly any concrete corrosion on the concrete elements. But the stability state of the tub itself could be examined through a destructive examination, for cracks and reinforcement.

“It was generally stated at the time that renovation was not urgent, but recommended. With the important caveat that renovation with a view to a long-term solution threatened to be extremely expensive, to the extent that it could rise to 75 percent. of the cost of a new building, when we were advised to switch to a new construction,” it says in a press release.

Cracking in the bath

The cost for a new swimming pool was then also included in the multi-year plan. In 2019, Tielt already held the first talks with (private) swimming pool builders and a feasibility study was drawn up on the possibilities of an intermunicipal swimming pool. Those discussions are currently continuing.

At the restart of the swimming pool after corona (2021), a study was conducted into the condition of the bathtub itself. The main conclusion was that there is mainly cracking, resulting in leakage, rust and crumbling of concrete. The damage is mainly reinforcement corrosion caused by specific environmental factors, such as moisture, oxygen and chlorides.

Bad state

The city chose to continue to operate the swimming pool, but with periodic monitoring. In June, the measurement data was presented, which showed that the concrete structure is already in exceptionally bad condition, compared to the proposed criteria.

The consultancy advised that the continued safe operation of the swimming pool was in jeopardy. On Wednesday 6 July, the AGB management committee took note of that report and decided to temporarily close the swimming pool and to inform all parties involved.

Further research

During this temporary closure, the city will conduct further research to extend the life of the swimming pool. “We are looking at whether that is technically feasible, what the financial consequences are and what period that will be,” it sounds.

“For our associations, schools and users, together with the sports department and the infrastructure department, we are looking for possible solutions in neighboring swimming pools, so that an alternative can be offered at the start of the new season and school year.”

Finally, the city will shift up a gear in the realization of a brand new swimming pool.