An 800-year-old church in Coventry will soon be accompanied by a brand new waterpark, as plans to fi t six water slides intricately next to the 13th century spire have been revealed.
FaulknerBrowns Architects fulfilled the requirements of the historic £36.7 million undertaking at the Coventry City Centre Leisure Park, while Polin Waterparks have been chosen as the waterslide supplier. Other key contributors to the project include the main supplier and construction firm the Buckingham Group Contracting and consultant Neuman Aqua. Set to open in late 2018 or early 2019, the project has required many special considerations.
Bilge Pakis, Design Manager at Polin Waterparks comments: “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-shaped church in the early 1200s.” The new facility will also provide a 25m swimming pool, a feature which will alter the layout of the waterpark. Polin Waterparks Senior Architect Zeynep Canbaz said: “The floorplan ultimately put the waterslides on the third floor, an especially unusual proposal.
“That meant Polin needed to specially adapt its rides to fi t within the specific limitations of the building’s mostly round layout and its constricting ceiling height. It wasn’t an easy design. “But it was incredibly fun to work on. It was challenging yet exciting to see the puzzle pieces of the slides match the required size needs and, finally, fi t perfectly within the restrictions of the facility.”