Jubilee Pool Lido, Penzance

2024 RIBA South West & Wessex Award

Jubilee Pool Lido, Penzance
ScottWhitbyStudio, WebbYates Engineers, ARUP, PT Projects for Jubilee Pool, Penzance 
Contract value: £3m
GIA: 191.6m2
Cost per m2: £952 (buildings only)

Set on a rocky outcrop jutting into the North Atlantic, the Jubilee Pool Lido at Penzance is the largest of only five surviving seawater lidos in the UK. After years of being battered by storms, the grade II listed art deco pool structures were in a very poor state. Faced with the prospect of closure, a group of local people were driven to intervene and in 2017 the complex was purchased by a charitable community benefit society. The architects have helped steer the project, advising on conservation and heritage and designing a new cafe and community space. Through the group’s energy and determination, the pools have been restored to their former glory and their facilities improved to allow them to open year-round.

£540,000 of the £1.8 million cost was raised through a public share offering, evidence of the site’s heritage value to the community. The clients spoke fondly to the jury about family memories of the Pool as an important local asset shared and enjoyed across the generations.

A new wave-form roof over the café and community centre lets in light and views from the promenade above the lido. Designed with structural engineers Webb Yates, it skips across retained walls from several surviving early 20th century granite stone shelters. Every material has to be incredibly robust to resist the force of the sea and the corrosive effects of salty air. The detailing is basic but there is still room for inventiveness in the roof form and the scalloped fibreglass cladding panels, influenced by boat-building, that wrap the service end of the building. The new structures, though understated, are transformative in the way they allow the Pool to operate. The project demonstrates how the architect’s role can be as much about strategy as about design. 

Most of the pool is unheated, but one corner has been divided off and is naturally heated to 35^oC with water from a new 410 metre deep geothermal well. Warm water is pumped up from below ground and the heat is transferred to the pool water by a heat exchanger, the temperature boosted slightly by an air-source heat pump. Recent increases in energy costs and high annual maintenance bills to repair storm damage are constant challenges. However, annual visitor numbers tripled from 40,000 to 120,000 when the pool reopened and using geothermal energy makes heating part of the pool viable. The heated pool, cafe, and community space are year-round facilities that help counterbalance the seasonal nature of life in Cornwall, contributing to a more stable and sustainable economy.

Jubilee Pool was the MacEwen Award winner in 2023.

See the rest of the RIBA South West and Wessex winners here. And all the RIBA Regional Awards here.

To see the whole RIBA Awards process visit architecture.com.

RIBA Regional Awards 2024 sponsored by EH Smith and Autodesk