• Client: Jubilee Pool Penzance Ltd
• Architect: Scott Whitby Studio
• Photography: Jim Stephenson
• Completion: 2019
• Expertise: Structures, Building Services

Jubilee Pool is a Grade II listed art-deco saltwater bathing pool in Penzance, Cornwall. In 2017 the pool was earmarked for improvements that would ensure the pool and its facilities could operate as a year-round visitor attraction.

The Jubilee Pool is the largest of five seawater lidos remaining in the UK and the first to be upgraded with a geothermal borehole, which provides a natural and low-energy method of heating the water.

We worked with Scott Whitby Studio to complete Phase 1 of the project, which delivered a new café and restaurant alongside a suite of community and therapy spaces that now has tied in with the pool’s long term plan to use geothermal energy to create a warm thermal bathing facility.

The triangular site is framed by a series of art-deco buildings which are infilled with new high-performance glazed extensions. Bi-fold doors allow the buildings to open up to the public promenade, allowing them to be used for various community events and activities. A sculpted roof structure – a timber stressed skin formed from a series of layers - unites the scheme with an undulating form facing the street.