The vision for the new-look Bucksburn Swimming Pool has been spelled out – as The Press and Journal was given an exclusive tour of the mistakenly mothballed building.
Aberdeen City Council opened the doors of the leisure facility which councillors admit they were “wrong” to ever close.
And during our tour, the scale of the £2.1 million work to create a pool the Bucksburn community can use “for years to come” was outlined.
‘Bucksburn pool refurb will emulate job done at Northfield’
Closing Bucksburn Swimming Pool landed the SNP and Lib Dem council leadership in hot water, as the community rose as one to force a climbdown.
Finance convener Alex McLellan’s first budget sealed the closure he’s now undoing, when he handed Sport Aberdeen a massive budget cut.
Now he hopes the community will forgive and forget when they see how much better their swimming pool is when it opens – expected in early 2026.
“Aberdeen City Council is investing more than £2m in Bucksburn Swimming Pool to bring it back to life,” he tells us as he shows us around.
“The pool would have had to close for six months to have the plant work carried out.
“I appreciate it’s been closed for a lot longer – but what we’re doing now is investing more heavily to bring it up to modern standards and make sure it actually has a future.
“Bucksburn Swimming Pool is a pretty tired, 40-year-old building at the moment but we are aspiring to emulate the new Northfield pool with what we are doing in Bucksburn.”
Come inside Bucksburn Swimming Pool
With the wooden panels guarding the entrance lifted opened up, the well-rested automatic doors jutted open.
The reception looks more tired.
It’s in line for a modernisation as part of the work, with – and you’ll read this a lot – Sport Aberdeen’s Northfield pool as inspiration.
The council plans to get rid of the retro arched skylight above the welcome area, for the sake of keeping heat in and water out.
During their inspections, they’ve found sticking-plaster fixes to leaks in the domed window – with little money spent on lasting repairs during Bucksburn pool’s 40-year life.
It will also make space for solar panels on the roof, to try to reduce the cost of running the facility while energy costs continue to rise.
Make a splash: Big promises on Bucksburn Swimming Pool
Walking through to the pool, there are bigger promises made.
The mothballing has left the building cold – and tiles around poolside have lifted and come away from the adhesive. Some in the changing rooms have fallen off the walls.
They’ll all be replaced with new tiling and wall panels to lend the place a more modern feel, as will the chairs in the spectator area – once again the look of Northfield is the inspiration.
In the changing rooms, the lockers will be given a refresh. Pipes, corroded from years of humid punishment, and old-school swimming pool showers will be replaced too.
Accessible areas of Bucksburn Swimming Pool to be improved
Bucksburn Swimming Pool is vaunted for its stepped access down into the shallow end.
And the council is doubling down on that by replacing the aged hoist to make it easier for all to get into the water.
Before the closure, the accessible changing room was entered through the first aid room – providing little privacy for people using either.
Both will be made standalone in the refurbishment too.
Inside the workings of Bucksburn Swimming Pool
One of the more visible changes before the public will be allowed back in to Bucksburn Swimming Pool will come in the plant room.
It’s where the majority of the £2.1m will be spent to modernise the Kepplehills Road facility.
The council has already lodged plans to extend that area – because the existing plant equipment driving the heated water around the building is so old-fashioned.
Modern kit is apparently bigger, meaning easier access for people trying to maintain it.
Presently, workers have to erect a 10-foot scaffold to change the water filters twice a year.
New kit will bring new efficiency with keeping running costs down, with better insulation doing more to stop heat escaping the building in the first place, we’re told.
The plant equipment’s age was already on Sport Aberdeen’s radar when the council’s leisure operator had its funding cut in April 2023.
Replacing it then was priced up at £400,000 – though Bucksburn pool would have been closed for six months and not the 20 months it already has.
So will it all be worth it at the end of the day?
Work is not expected to be finished now until the end of 2025, meaning it’s unlikely Sport Aberdeen will open it before the bells ring in 2026.
SNP finance convener Mr McLellan says: “A six-month closure would have been a sticking plaster over quite big internal issues.
“We recognise the decision to close Bucksburn swimming pool was wrong.
“We changed our minds and reversed the decision.
“I hope that the community feels listened to, and we took on board the points they made, and made well, and the strength of feeling on the issue.
“I hope they see that we’re trying now to do right by them to deliver a positive from a negative.”
Read more:
The 287-day rollercoaster campaign as locals refused to give up on Bucksburn Swimming Pool
Bucksburn businessman’s permission plea for pool at Aberdeen home
Chalmers Bakery: Work starts on million-pound flats at demolished Bucksburn site
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