Camden New Journal - News: Baths no longer some old dive

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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 6 March 2008

Councillor Flick Rea, standing over the Willes pool, says using the baths will be ‘like swimming in St Pancras station’ when its facilities are revamped

Baths no longer some old dive

Complex gets go-ahead for £25m revamp as hidden treasures are uncovered

THE Willes pool at the Prince of Wales Baths has seen better days. Thousands of youngsters have learned to swim in the 33-yard tank. But now it lies empty. The floor is marked by pigeon droppings, while sunlight struggles to find a way through blacked-out skylights.
On Thursday night, a council planning committee waved through a planning application that means the £25 million refurbishment of the ageing baths will start in May and is expected to be completed by 2010.
The plans include new swimming pools and changing rooms, a gym and keep-fit studios.
The New Journal was given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour to gauge the scale of the problems facing builders working on the Victorian baths this week.
Built in 1901, they are Grade-II listed and as builders have begun to work out what needs to be done, construction workers have uncovered features that have not seen the light of day for more than 40 years since an insensitive 1959 modernisation scheme was completed.
The main 33-yard long Willes pool held particular treasures. A false roof had hidden away a dramatic glass-clad apex. Massive wooden tresses give the newly uncovered ceiling the air of a cathedral.
Town Hall surveyor Don White spoke of the surprises they encountered. He said: “The quality of the craftsmanship was superb – the oak beams will stay and with new windows put in, it will bring lots of sunlight down on to the pool.
Camden leisure chief, Lib Dem councillor Flick Rea, said the scheme would show off the glory of the Victorian architecture.
She said: “It will be like swimming in St Pancras station.”
Other discoveries include cast-iron Victorian fireplaces on the upper floors, which were used as housing for caretakers.
Mr White added: “We have had to rejig the flats so these fireplaces were not covered up. And wherever we have discovered original cornicing we will incorporate them into the new building.”
The staff at the centre had to face numerous problems.
Centre maintenance manager Terry Gallagher recalls regular problems with 33 individual roofs that cover the site’s various wings.
He said: “Each time it rained it was action stations.
“Staff would have to clear debris from the pools which had fallen in through the night.”
But the roofs will be repaired sensitively and many of the original Welsh slate tiles can be cleaned and repaired.
In one corridor, with dark stone steps leading down into a basement, builders found a wall of ornate emerald tiles with a feathered crest used by the Prince of Wales.
They will be relaid in the front reception area.
Mr White added: “There is little left of the original Victorian finish still in one piece, but what we have found will be incorporated into the new design.”
The entrance in Grafton Road will be removed and the laundry room and women’s pool demolished.
To pay for the scheme, the Town Hall will put in 10 new homes on the site, and another four townhouses will be built on freed-up land in Grafton Road.

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