Cleveland Pools

The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority awarded £77,000 in capital grant to Cleveland Pools to fund the pontoon infrastructure for the water source heat pump at the site. The heat pump uses water from the River Avon to heat up the pool water each summer. The grant funding came from the Combined Authority’s Local Energy Scheme, this was funded by the West of England Recovery Fund and Green Recovery Fund which was set up to support a Green Recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic. The £60m Green Recovery Fund was set up to help the West of England Combined Authority meet its climate and ecology ambitions.

Swimmers in the 1970s waiting for the Pool to open — Credit: Cleveland Pools Trust

Cleveland Pools, the oldest lido in the UK, originally opened to the public in 1817 but closed in 1984.

In 2003, the Cleveland Pools Trust was formed to save the Pools with the aim to re-open for public use. 20 years later, in 2023 the Trust achieved its goal and re-opened for public swimming on 10^th September 2023. The entire restoration project cost £9.6 million.

Find out more about Cleveland Pools heritage here.

Cleveland Pools won the prestigious European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in 2023 for an ‘outstanding heritage achievement’.

Cleveland Pools have used their location on the banks of the River Avon to their advantage by installing a water source heat pump which takes heat from the river to heat the Pool. By heating the pool with a water source heat pump instead of a conventional gas boiler, Cleveland Pools have saved on energy costs and also enabled a greenhouse gas emissions saving of 137.9 tCO2e per annum and a lifetime (20 years) saving of 2,758 tCO2e (using 2017 conversion factors).

By installing the water source heat pump, Cleveland Pools Trust has demonstrated how a green technology solution can be applied to a community swimming pool. It has provided a setting to educate the local community on climate change, its impacts and provide an example of innovative technology that can reduce carbon emissions and costs. This community benefit will continue for many years to come.

Water source heat pumps (Image credit - Cleveland Pools Trust)

Incorporating the water source heat pump into this restoration project has made the project an exemplar in using innovative renewable energy in a heritage building. Cleveland Pools is a complex, historical site, with listed building status and very restricted access, with visitors encouraged to arrive on foot, bike or water (boat, kayak and paddleboard).

The floating pontoon not only provides critical infrastructure for the functioning of the heat pump, but also provides a landing stage and access points for those arriving by boat, kayak or paddleboard.

The heat pump inlet and outlet pipework, which is situated under the floating pontoon, takes the heat via a bank of heat exchangers, from the river water and uses it to heat the swimming pool water up to 25 degrees Celsius.

Cleveland Pool Trust has appointed leisure trust, Fusion Lifestyle, to operate the site. Fusion has taken on board a Community Engagement and Volunteer Manager, originally funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, for an initial three-year period. This key member of staff is working with local schools and clubs to extend the use of the Pools and to set up community activities for other youth and disadvantaged groups.

Cleveland Pools is lucky to have many dedicated volunteers who have worked hard to restore the site. All of the information boards were created by volunteers. The boards guide visitors on site through the history of the pools and the work it has taken to get them reopened.

Cleveland Pools Trust worked with ecologists throughout the restoration project, who surveyed the contents of the old pools and the nearby riverbanks to record flora and fauna.

This part of the river Avon corridor is a bat flyway, so lighting levels had to be carefully controlled. This part of the river also hosts otters and kingfishers. Over 2,000 fish found in the discarded pools were caught, tested and released in approved waters as were the 60 slow worms captured on the site and released in safe grassland.

Even a rare pond weed was relocated in an alternative fresh water source, all supervised and managed by specialist licensed handlers.

Kingfisher bird on a branch — Credit: Amee Fairbank-Brown, Unsplash

Challenge 1: Restricted access to site

The restoration works to Cleveland Pools was made difficult by the restricted access to the site. Cleveland Pools is located behind Hampton Row, a terrace of Victorian houses with parking restrictions and a steep footpath down to the site. This meant that the pontoon superstructure had to be delivered to Avon Rugby Club, 2kms upriver, craned onto the river and then floated down to Cleveland Pools to be installed.

The lack of vehicular access to the site meant an additional £1.3 million was added to the project overheads. 80% of all materials and 100% of all waste was transported to and from the site via the river to licensed recycling plants across the region.

Challenge 2: Flooding

Due to the location of the site on the bank of the River Avon, the Environment Agency require Cleveland Pools Trust to allow the site to flood until they can provide compensation pits elsewhere to capture the quantities of flood water taken by the site. This occurred as recently as January 2024, which has been a major challenge in its reopening to the public.

Alternative sites are being explored upriver with plans currently at an initial conversation stage. To keep essential equipment above the flood plain the plant room is located higher up the site, rather than below the main pool, which would be the usual location. This location has also added significant costs to the project due to the unique position of the pools, which, back in 1817 was originally a bend in the river.

Interested in renewable energy?

Round three of the Local Energy Scheme is currently closed for applications, however the capital funding will open for applications soon. £723,000 total fund is available, to support community renewable energy projects across the West of England region. The Local Energy Scheme provides grants to renewable energy projects in the West of England. Full details of the next grant round can be found on the Local Energy Scheme webpage.

Any community group wanting additional support to develop its own local renewable energy project can contact the South West Net Zero Hub for early stage advice and guidance. The Net Zero Hub works with public sector and not-for-profit organisations to increase the number, scale and quality of low carbon energy projects across the West of England and wider South West. Funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and hosted by the Combined Authority, the Hub is currently delivering the Community Energy Fund for the South West which will help support the development of new community energy projects across the region.

Additional information about developing renewable energy projects can be found on the Community Energy England, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Regen and Bristol Energy Network websites.