Worthing Borough Council launched a design competition for a new swimming pool to replace the ageing Aquarena in a prime location on Worthing Seafront.

Saville Jones joined forces with Heatherwick Studio to produce an entry, using Saville Jones’ experience in swimming pool design and Heatherwick Studio’s ability to think ‘outside of the box’.

The inspiration for the exciting design was the event that had recently pushed Worthing into the world news headlines – the covering of Worthing beach with timber from a wrecked ship, resulting in mountains of timber on the beach. The thousands of pieces of timber became a draw for sightseers, DIY salvage and artists creating on-site sculptures, from the stick-like material. It was the global media event for a week – ‘a long time in news’.

The proposal celebrated this event by replicating the form of bundled timber, as the structure of the building. Deconstructing, omitting elements to allow views and light and to create shading.

The scheme and construction were also economical, using standard laminated timber technology in an innovative manner. It included a diving pool with moveable floor, a 25m competition pool, a leisure pool and an outdoor pool. There would also be a health and fitness suite, dance studio, restaurant and spectator viewing

The combined entry was shortlisted.