2:17:54 PM - Mon, Aug 15th 2022 |
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Templemore Baths restoration a 'painstaking labour of love'
It has been described as a "painstaking labour of love", with workers embracing construction methods and materials from days long gone by.
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Now the job of restoring Templemore Baths in east Belfast is coming close to completion.
The baths at Templemore are the last functioning Victorian public baths on the island of Ireland, having first opened in 1883.
The restoration project, which was conceived in 2014, has cost £17m.
A major extension will provide an additional 25m (82ft) pool with six lanes, while there is also an 80-station fitness suite, spa facilities, a cafe and visitor centre.
The new building will link "sympathetically and softly" with the original, according to site manager Diarmuid Mullan.
"It was about getting the balance right between the new and the old," he said.
From soap to swimming
The original building on Templemore Avenue was designed by Robert Watt, construction began in 1881 and it was opened as the Ballymacarret Baths in 1883.
Further work was undertaken in 1929 with a swimming pool extension to accommodate Olympic hopefuls.
The baths were an essential facility for Harland & Wolff dock workers and their families who did not have access to hot water at home.
Built on a former hospital site, the Templemore Baths have adapted their usage throughout the years - it was a makeshift morgue during World War Two.
Perfectly recreating history
The team's aim was to reuse as much of the original materials as possible, minimising the carbon footprint of the restoration and "retaining a much more visually-pleasing end product".
For example, they sought help to reconstruct two original window frames but when seven specialist workshops turned down the job a pair of site joiners took it on and spent over a month perfecting them.
"You wouldn't think anything's been done to them, which is actually a compliment in this sort of work," said Mr Mullan.
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