London scores a world record with Sky Pool and its unique design
Suspended 35 meters above a SE London district being redeveloped, the vertiginous Sky Pool is breathtaking.
Suspended 35 meters between two tower blocks above a SE London district being redeveloped, the vertiginous Sky Pool is self-supporting. A world first – for a breathtaking result!
A high-flying amazing acrylic pool
Since May 2021, there is an incredible sight: someone swimming between the 10th floors of two adjacent tower blocks in Nine Elms with an unbroken view of the Thames and the strollers below. This entirely transparent pool is the jewel of Embassy Gardens, a luxurious new real estate complex. Visible to all, this unique pool is reserved for residents and their guests.
Designed to provoke “Wow” reactions by “pushing the boundaries in the capability of construction and engineering”, Sky Pool seems to defy the laws of physics. To build this 25 x 6 x 3 meter transparent pool required top class ingenuity.
Production of the Sky Pool
© Photo credit: Reynolds Polymer
Also in London, check out the first 360° infinity pool project in the world
The pool hallmarks a prestigious real estate complex
Property developers EcoWorld and Ballymore had the idea for this remarkable pool with such a unique design. These two associated companies have three ambitious projects in London - London City Island, Wardian London and Embassy Gardens which alone cost over one billion pounds sterling and in which a simple two-bedroom apartment sells for over one million pounds. Innovative real estate schemes are reorganizing the banks of the Thames with a “so Manhattan” touch!
The watchwords for each program are excellence and the extraordinary, so it was quite logical to endow this project with a “design” pool together with other facilities including a spa, a bar and an orangery.
3D render of Sky Pool
© Photo credit: Reynolds Polymer
Colossal works behind the world’s biggest self-supporting pool
To build such a huge pool, EcoWorld and Ballymore called on a specialist company based in Colorado, USA, and shipped it across the Atlantic. To support its 375 metric tonnes of water, it was made with 178 mm thick acrylic resin for the walls and 356 mm thick for the bottom.
A team of experts – architects from Arup Associates and HAL Architects, Eckersley O'Callaghan engineers and Reynolds Polymer specialists in acrylic resin aquariums and pools - supervised the design, the transport and the precise-to- a-millimeter installation of the Sky Pool. To shift with the two buildings’ foundations and wind effects, the pool was anchored flexibly and can move slightly without leakage.
Apart from two cables under the pool, the technical room and steel fasteners are located invisibly on both sides of the self-supporting structure.
Inspection, transport and installation of the Sky Pool
© Photos credit: Reynolds Polymer
Opened in May 2019, the design of the amazing Sky Pool is an attraction which reinvigorates the district and attracts customers for the shops below. To see other remarkable pools, go on our Pool Design Collection which shows the award-winning entries in the Pool Design Awards contest!
