Hilsea Lido: Designs unveiled to bring life back into "grand lady" ahead of Portsmouth pool's 90th anniversary

Eager residents gathered at The Blue Lagoon yesterday afternoon (March 4) to see how Hilsea Lido will be regenerated. Levelling-up funding from the government worth a total of £8.75m being invested into the Hilsea Lines project. People are being urged to give their thoughts at two future open events.

Kelly Nash, corporate performance manager at Portsmouth City Council, said inquisitive residents were positive about the project. She told The News: "We’re excited to see the site come back to life again. We’ve placed the themes from the original consultation at the heart of the developments. It is about energy we want to put back in the place and how it makes us feel, almost as if it’s going on holiday at home. We were very lucky to secure the funding, and it’s great to turn it into something on the ground for the community."

The designs will be fully finalised by June of this year, with construction work expected to last until March 2025. Upgraded changing rooms, toilets and shower cubicles with disabled access facilities are among the major changes coming to the social hub. A refurbished Blue Lagoon cafe is expected to be launched and owned by an external business. The lido pools, lagoons and existing changing facilities will be restored, with new outdoor showers, greening and seating area, plant and filtration systems and plant room roof being added.

Ms Nash said the focus is getting the pool back up and running, as it's the “heart of the site". She added that the pool will probably be a cold water swimming area, with heating being "expensive" and "complicated" due to its size and the amount of power necessary to run it. It hasn't been ruled out, but is not expected in the first phase of the project. One of the pledges taken into consideration was accessibility. "We need to make sure the site has physical access for people with restrictive mobility or sensory challenges," Ms Nash added. "Consultation was done with people with learning disabilities, and affordability was considered as well.

"Whatever we deliver has to be affordable to the community so they can use it as part of their day to day life.” Principal building surveyor Harvey Bevan said positive discussions with contractors means the project should be completed on time.

"From the people I've spoken too, they all seem very positive that the pools are coming back to Hilsea, and they’ll have the changing rooms alongside it. A lot of people who used it before were quite disappointed that it has been closed, so they’re happy there are plans to reopen it again." Councillor Russell Simpson, of Hilsea ward, said the project is of vital importance due to the desperate need for social infrastructure.

"Like most Hilsea residents, we just want it completed. It has been going on for way too long," the Portsmouth Independents Party politician said. "Overall, the design is very clean, neat and a vast improvement to what it is now. Schools in the surrounding area were consulted about what they would like to see." Cllr Simpson said he hopes The Blue Lagoon building can be turned into a community hub for Hilsea residents. He hopes people in the north of the city can experience what he did when he was younger.

"As a boy, we all used to walk up Northern Parade with our inflatables and swimming trunks. People will commute from Stamshaw, Pauslgrove and Cosham. I would love for it to be finished and as long as it is open for the residents in the north of Portsmouth, it’ll be great." Many of the residents at The Blue Lagoon were pleased with the designs.

Helen Lutman, a Hilsea resident and a mum of two children, said it would be "lovely" for the venue to be somewhere her kids can meet friends. "It looks like it should be really beneficial," she added, "If it turns out like it does in the pictures, it should be really good. There’s no community hub in Hilsea. There’s not many places to meet up and chat with friends."

Ms Lutman added that she works with adults with learning disabilities for Creative Advances. The lead support worker said: "It would be good to see how they make it accessible for me to bring some of my guys here to go swimming and stuff with in the summer. I hope it is accessible for all of my guys and not just most of them.”

Sue Corbin, 67, of Bedhampton, is Portsmouth's first female lifeguard and said Hilsea Lido in it heyday was seen in the film Tommy. She added: "The lifeguards all said it was wonderful. Hilsea has needed the regeneration plans for a very long time, but the problem is swimming pools never make money. It is there for the public for their use. You’ve got to keep people social. It is no good taking everything away. People are bored and don’t know what to do, sometimes they cause trouble." Paul Smith, 70, of Fareham, volunteered at Hilsea Lido for several years and said it is fantastic that the lagoons will be back again ad the pool will be restored to what it once was.

"There’s no reason why this area can’t become what it was again," he said. Mr Smith does have reservations about the security of the site. Vandals and feckless youths have caused serious damaged to the site in the past, throwing picnic benches into the pool and destroying children's artwork. Yobs also broke into The Blue Lagoon last year, setting fires and graffitiing the walls. Mr Smith said: "I’m disappointed with some of the plans. They don’t seem to have taken into consideration the reality that the site has been vandalised by youngsters. Hopefully, that doesn’t occur, but in this area, sometimes it does. It’s just high spirits and kids being bored, but stuff gets damaged. It’s horrifying that youngsters were climbing over 6ft spikey walls to get in.

Ms Nash said the CCTV cameras and fences are being maintained while "natural surveillance" from making the site operational again would deter criminals from ruining things for residents. She added that finishing the construction by March 2025 would be "very doable". She added: "There will be a period of mobilising, and we’ll all want to see it operational for the summer, which will be the anniversary of the site. It’ll be a grand old lady of 90, but there will be a lot of life left in her."