Water Factories Splash Zones

Background:

Hippo Leisure have transformed the beach area of the leisure pool at Bath Sports and Leisure Centre into a highly interactive water play area aimed at children
of all ages and abilities. This was just one part of a £1million refurbishment programme at the Centre. The play features include a water factory, splash toys and wide slide, which have been installed to help encourage children and their families in the community to become increasingly active on a regular basis. A
variety of high and low-level features allows children to increase their water confidence through play as they explore and discover their aquatic environment.

Play Features:

The water factory creates fun and excitement for both toddlers and older children. A waterball which includes low level features will enable less water confident children to
play with a variety of fill ‘n’ spill buckets, handwheels and cannon jets as they control and manipulate the flow of water in various ways. The waterball also has an interactive mast which features three arms, each with a high-level surprise or anticipatory play feature. More water confident children, and even adults will love getting splashed and sprayed by the waterwheel, tipping bucket and shark shower. The mast connects to a second mast via a span pipe. The span pipe holds two small waterwheels, four tipping buckets and a pelican squirt. The second mast has replaced an old mushroom fountain and includes three interactive arms which feature a spray rail, large tipping bucket and shark shower.

Toddlers will enjoy playing with the two interactive water channels which are filled via one of the cannon jets on the waterball. Children can use the paddles on the channels to manipulate the flow of the water through them and back into the pool.

Two new slides have been installed. There is a bright and colourful aquatic themed toddler slide which has moving fish and a domed mirror to provide tactile play. There is also a custom built wide ramp slide which older children will enjoy as they enter the slide at the poolside and splash into the pool on exit.

On the poolside there are four large fish squirts of assorted designs and colours which create a bright and vibrant visual impact while gently squirting water onto bathers in the pool.

Finally, there are 2 interactive wall panels which feature a colourful underwater design and a large number of moving parts and mirrors to provide tactile, visual and auditory stimulation. One panel is fixed to the wall in the beach area and the other at the deeper end of the pool.

Installation:

Hippo Leisure worked in collaboration with Bath Sports and Leisure Centre to ensure that the play features were installed and ready for children to enjoy over the summer holidays. Hippo's play features are designed to allow easy updates or expansion in the future. This will give Bath Sports and Leisure Centre the opportunity to ensure the pool is kept fresh and appealing to help to maintain high regular visitor numbers in the long-term.

Client Feedback:

Barnaby Rich, General Manager at Bath Sports and Leisure Centre told Somerset Live: “This comprehensive refurbishment programme will allow us to provide outstanding, accessible and affordable facilities for the entire community, to get more people, more active, more often”.

Bath Sports and Leisure Centre Case Study