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The City of St. Gallen publishes more details on the planned renovation and expansion of the Blumenwies Indoor Pool: No parking, water surface is doubled. In addition, a temporary solution with an air dome is planned in Lerchenfeld. Parliament will decide on the proposal in October and a referendum is scheduled for early March 2021.
(pd / tn) A new pool with height adjustable floor, an outdoor hot water area and a new sauna area: the city of St. Gallen intends to renovate and expand the Blumenwies indoor pool in the east of the city with a total of 49.6 million francs.
In a press release, those responsible justify the planned investments as follows:
“A postulated report from 2010 shows that the city of St. Gallen has had very little water surface for indoor swimming pools for years according to the standards of the Federal Office of Sports (Baspo).”
The Blumenwies indoor pool expansion aims to take this into account. A new sports pool will be implemented with 13 lanes, each 25 meters long and 2 meters deep. This means that water polo can also be used properly in the future. In addition, improvements are planned, especially in the entrance area and bistro, as well as in the wardrobes.
From sport to adventure billiards
In addition to more water, the city’s swimming pool policy also wants to take into account trends and developments in the swimming pool landscape. Here, purely sports pools would increasingly become leisure, adventure and health facilities.
“The sauna landscape will be renewed and expanded. An outdoor heated pool is planned as an additional offer to visit the pool, ”the message reads.
During renovation and extension works, the indoor pool must be closed for two winter seasons. As a temporary measure, the existing swimming pool in the Lerchenfeld outdoor pool will be roofed and heated with an air dome.
Family gardens remain safe and there is no parking
For the design, the city was conquered by the project called “Waikiki” under the leadership of the St. Gallen architect Andy Senn. The flower meadow will extend to Martinsbruggstrasse and move to the street space in the first row. Initially, a new parking lot was planned on the project. “The blueprint preparation demonstrated that the costs of this solution were disproportionately high due to the small size of the underground parking garage and the challenging construction site,” the city writes.
Parking remains on the east side of the property and is arranged above ground. This number of parking spaces is sufficient for normal operation. In the case of large-scale events, the goal is to incorporate existing surrounding parking spaces. The flower meadow is also very well developed by public transport. As already shown in the project competition, home gardens can be preserved. “Only one strip of land along the indoor pool property will be claimed during the construction period.”
Volksbad renovation postponed
Besides Blumenwies, Volksbad is the second indoor public swimming pool in the city of St. Gallen. The bath with its Art Nouveau character was opened in 1906 and is the oldest indoor swimming pool still in operation in Switzerland.
The city council has looked at various options for using the Volksbad and would like to keep it as a bathroom for historical and operational reasons.
In view of the current financial situation, the investments required for the city are currently not sustainable. “The city council, therefore, has postponed work on the project in question for five years,” the statement concludes.
