Our Vision
Shaped by the community
Working closely with our architects Rural Office we’ve developed a vision for the refurbished Bath Brynaman site. Based on extensive community engagement and feedback, the vision showcases how the site could look and feel, ensuring we meet all the compliance requirements for modern pools, while making sure it works for our community. Our project team have also taken expert advice on sustainability, accessibility, outdoor pool design and community business planning, feeding into the plans and designs. Now it’s time to share our vision with the community.
The Design Brief
Our overarching goal is to sensitively refurbish our historic 1930s open-air pool, conserving its unique historic features such as the turnstile and changing booths, while improving functionality, accessibility, and sustainability. We need to ensure we retain the essential character and footprint of the Baths – while making sure we meet modern standards and legal requirements in terms of safety, operation and energy performance. Our design brief asked for:
- A heritage-led regeneration plan retaining the character and appeal of the site
- Minimal site excavation: respect and conserve the natural habitat.
- Legible and inclusive design – with good access, circulation and wayfinding.
- Environmentally responsible design, including lowcarbon heating and renewable energy.
- Operational realism, ensuring the scale of facilities matches capacity, demand and business viability.
Environmentally Conscious Plans
We are aiming for exemplar environmentally conscious design. As such we hope to incorporate sustainable technologies including air source heating, solar energy, and borehole water sourcing as part of the pool refurbishment. This helps ensure our running costs stay low, and our project has a positive impact in terms of emergency efficiency and sustainability.
Conserving Character, Meeting Modern Needs
Bath Brynaman is one of the few surviving mining-community lidos in Wales. Our vision is to retain its historic character and identity, making sure we adhere to new legislation for swimming pools and meet all the access, operation and welfare needs of the community, visitors and site staff.
To bring the pool up to modern standards – and make it appealing for users and the community we will provide:
- Stairs, access ramp and platform lift
- Entrance, reception, café and function room
- Fully accessible changing and WCs
- Sauna, showers and external amenity space
- Storage, plant room and services
- Staff welfare and amenity
Sensitive Design
The original baths were assembled on the existing site before the ground was raised around them to form a plinth – and our vision takes inspiration from this. The design responds to the site context by placing new accommodation blocks onto the existing plinth and inserting the new pool into the existing vessel.
The new accommodation blocks read as single-storey structures – concealing the plant and services in the plinth below – and retaining the important, characterful, long east-facing row of colourful changing rooms.
Our architects Rural Office win awards for their careful, clever design – and the vision
demonstrates a sensitivity both to the site and the unique heritage of the pool.
Inclusive Access for all
Making sure everyone can access the site equally is not an add-on for us – it’s a fundamental driver for the design. We aim make the site a joy to use for everyone by introducing:
- Level access throughout the pool deck, removing the historic barriers created by stepped circulation
- Ramped pool access alongside stepped and ladder entry
- A new step-free main entrance,
incorporating both lift and stair access from road level - Accessible and family changing rooms
- A Changing Places WC with shower
- Disabled parking adjacent to the development
The Baths should be a place that everyone can enjoy and benefit from – throughout their lives.
For People and Planet
Sustainability is at the heart of our plans – we aim to create a low-carbon building, including renewable heating using air source heat pumps – avoiding fossil fuels wherever possible. Photovoltaic panels will be integrated into the roof design, optimised for orientation and pitch to offset running costs.
Heated spaces will have thermal upgrades, with the project aspiring to meet AECB CarbonLite standards for retrofit buildings, while screening will protect swimmers from crosswinds and reduce heat loss from the pool.
The volume of water within the pool will be reduced to lower heat load and energy demand – along with careful planning of the heating season to maximise energy saving.
Retaining the sun deck and providing further south-facing amenity will optimise the use of the pool in good weather – while efficient fabric-first performance will make sure that heated spaces use the minimal amount of energy to function effectively.
Healthier Happier Lives
Our overarching aim is that the Baths regeneration project has a positive impact on the lives of our community – improving wellbeing, strengthening social cohesion and delivering clear public health benefits. Swimming is recognised as a low‐impact and accessible form of exercise suitable for all ages and abilities, with well‐evidenced benefits for cardiovascular health, mobility, rehabilitation and mental health.
Our design supports a broad range of activity types, including:
- lane swimming
- family sessions
- cold‐water swimming
- structured lessons
Supporting our Mental Health
It is critical that Bath Brynaman supports mental health and social wellbeing. Outdoor swimming spaces are known to reduce stress, improve mood and enhance social connection – especially when set within attractive natural places such as the lush surroundings of the Amman Valley – so we have an amazing opportunity to make a difference here. The design incorporates social spaces, seating and a café all designed to encourages informal interaction – places to chat and connect with others – reducing isolation and strengthening social connection.
Actively making a Difference
Our vision promotes an active lifestyle – reducing barriers to participation and encouraging active travel through direct connections to the Sustrans route and local walking networks.
The new spaces are designed for full accessibility, to improve health outcomes, reduce inequality and support long‐term community resilience – and by creating a beautiful new place focussed on health and wellbeing – we hope to bring tangible benefits to our community.
What are the next steps?
Sharing the vision with the community is key to ensuring it meets their needs. Following consultation, we move into the next phase of our project – gaining planning permission and seeking funding, including a community fundraising campaign. Follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter to be kept up to date with the latest developments. Community support is central to the success of the project.
With your support we can bring back Bath Brynaman.
