21 Jun 2017
Polin to create waterpark on the site of an 800 year old church
BY Lauren Heath-Jones
Waterslide manufacturer Polin will create an indoor waterpark next to a church spire in Coventry, West Midlands, UK, that was built in the Middle Ages. The spire originally formed part of a larger cruciform church that was built in the 1200s, and destroyed in the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1600s.
The Coventry City Centre Leisure Park is set to open in late 2018/early 2019 and will feature an indoor waterpark, a 25 m swimming pool, a gym, a climbing wall, squash courts, a dance studio, a day spa and administrative areas.
The waterpark will feature a range of Polin slides that have been specially adapted to suit the dimensions of the spire. All rides will have reduced heights, with the Space Hole measuring 14.62 m (48 ft) high and the other slides measuring 11.5 m (37.7 ft) tall. The rides, excluding the Space Hole, will also feature dry out exits without swimming pools.
The rides include the Tunnel Bodyslide, a slide ‘n’ roll ride with unique design, lighting and sound effects; and the Sphere-Space Shuttle combo, a raft slide that sends riders speeding through a sphere.
Other rides include: the Space Hole, where riders are propelled around an open bowl by centrifugal force before splashing into a plunge pool; the Mini Tsunami, a high-capacity ride that will incorporate a Coventry logo in its design; the Navigatour, a 135m ride with NLE technology that gives riders a light show on their journey down the slide; and the Looping Rocket, one of Polin’s more popular attractions. The Looping Rocket launches riders through a trap door round a 360-degree loop.
Bilge Pakis, design manager of Polin Waterparks, says of the project: “It is a game-changer in its distinctive design, required to fit the facility into a very tight footprint on a site where Franciscan monks originally constructed a cruciform church in the early 1200s.”
Pakis adds: “Over the years the site’s space became smaller and smaller as history has left its mark.”
Polin will collaborate with FaulknerBrowns Architects, the Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd. and consultant Neuman Aqua Ltd on the project.
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