This year, the WMS team was part of an exciting new project for Sea Lanes: a swimming pool in Canary Wharf. The pool provides Londoners and visitors with a fantastic wild swimming location!

The pool floor was made using Modular Cubes, and the poolside was RotoDock units decked with high-quality Balau wood.

Preparation

Before the site opened for construction, the WMS team were busy in the warehouse building lumber deck support frames to be attached to the top of the RotoDock. In total, we built 69 frames!

Modular Cubes and RotoDock

First day on site, we used a telehandler to lower a working platform made from our Modular Cubes into the dock. Our Cubes can be double and triple stacked to create multiple levels and increase load capacity, so to give ourselves easy access, we arranged some Cubes into a step formation and attached a ramp.

Getting the RotoDock into the water was fairly easy with a telehandler, and it didn’t take us long to form the base of the poolside, which was temporarily held in place using ropes.

RotoDock is a robust and stable pontoon system perfect for flatwater or still water locations. It provides a solid base for creating a decked top, giving the appearance of a fixed jetty but the benefits of a floating platform.

Back in the warehouse, our team prepared the swimming pool floor, which was built in transportable sections, making it more convenient to install on site.

We used black connector pins to mark the lanes on the floor so swimmers can more easily keep track of their position.

On site, sections of the Modular Cube floor were put in place, ready to be sunk. Once the pool floor was all laid out and connected, the WMS team installed the handrail posts around the poolside and secured custom-made brackets to the edges of the floor, which were designed to hold the pool floor at the desired depth of 1.2m.

We also added a silt curtain as a pool wall to stop large and fine particles from getting into the pool water.

Sinking the Pool Floor

Sinking the floor was a fun process! Before bringing the Modular Cubes to site, we drilled holes in the bottom of them in preparation for their sinking. On site, we drilled holes in their tops, allowing water to flood into the Cubes from the bottom, slowly sinking the floor.

As the floor went down, we guided the custom brackets into place, ensuring the couplers made their way into the RotoDock’s pockets.

Finally, all the Cubes and RotoDock became recognisable as a pool!

We spotted this little buddy investigating the slowly appearing puddle on top of the Cubes. Once the floor was fully submerged, he seemed quite content and officially became the first swimmer to christen the pool!

The Deck

Next, we secured all the deck support frames in place then had a few days off site while our electricians came in and installed the cabling through the frames for poolside lighting.

Laying the decking was the most time-consuming task as there were over 6000 linear metres of decking board that needed cutting to the perfect size, aligning and screwing in. We got there in the end!

Gangways & Finishing Touches

The two gangways and the swim access platform we installed were custom made for this project. They were made from aluminium with glass reinforced plastic (GRP) grating for an anti-slip surface. For the two 500kg entrance gangways, we used stacked Cubes to provide support while they were secured in place.

We then finished off the trim around the gangway leading to the rest of the dock, installed the access ladders, threaded the rope handrails through the wooden handrail posts and, finally, deployed the floating lane markers.

We’re very proud of the finished floating pool, and if you would like to visit for a swim, you can book or buy a membership pass at the Sea Lanes Canary Wharf website.

WMS can provide unique Modular Cube swimming pools that create a safe, controlled area for wild swimming in natural bodies of water. The pools can be surrounded with Cube, RotoDock or Decked Pontoon platforms to allow easy access and lounging space.

Call our Sales Team on 01420 86229 or email sales@wardlemarineservices.co.uk to discuss your requirements and design ideas. Or simply drop us an enquiry through our website. We look forward to hearing about your project!