Member Article

North East praised as preservation shining light

After this week hosting a party of trustees from a disused Turkish Baths in Manchester, the North East has been praised for its approach to preserving historic buildings.

Visitors toured the soon-to-be-renovated Newcastle City Pool with developers Fusion Lifestyle and local campaign group Re-open Newcastle Turkish Baths & City Pool.

After budget restraints caused the pool to close in 2013, a situation in which the region was not alone across the UK, Fusion turned their attention to rejuvenating the historic site after being made aware of a community campaign.

The company will begin work on the £5m redevelopment early this year after gaining planning permission and listed building consent for the pool and Turkish Baths, as well as a new spa, treatment rooms, fitness suite, exercise studios and restaurant/café.

The Victoria Baths in Manchester have been closed for swimming since 1993, but trustees have been given new hope by events in the North East. Now they too have turned to Fusion Lifestyle for help with the restoration.

Gill Wright, project development manager at Victoria Baths Trust, said: “We heard the all-too-common story of Newcastle’s baths closing, so we were delighted to hear that Fusion is working with the community campaign to save the building for public use.

“Newcastle really is a flagship for us of how historic pools can be made fit for today and Fusion Lifestyle is to be congratulated on taking a leading role in this field.

“There is huge interest in buildings like these that provide a very different leisure experience to modern pools. We are looking forward to following the regeneration and re-opening of City Pool and I’m sure we can learn a lot from each other.”

Michelle Hirschhorn-Smith, of community group Re-open Newcastle Turkish Baths & City Pool, added: “We’re thrilled to be working with the Victoria Baths group from Manchester and Fusion Lifestyle.

“It’s been inspiring to meet with other people who share our passion for public pools and historic buildings, and we’re especially glad the Victoria Baths team have come to visit Newcastle as these are two very rare buildings which still house Turkish Baths.”

Fusion Lifestyle is a charity which ploughs all profits from its operations back into the business to provide affordable health and fitness facilities for all.

Anthony Cawley, director of operations for Fusion Lifestyle, said: “It’s great to be able to meet with and give advice to the team from the Victoria Baths Trust.

“It’s obviously been hard for councils to maintain historic leisure facilities, and we hope that this partnership can be used as a blueprint for other pools across the UK.”