"Despite its location in a London borough where a third of under-16s are obese, its owner, Tower Hamlets council, was planning to close the hall, which houses two swimming pools and fitness classes.

Mark Gould Wednesday 03 March 2004"[The Guardian ]

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| York Hall | 4 March 2004; 10:21:31 AM |# | | Discuss |

Clissold is a national disaster for swimming and a symbol of where leisure facilties can go horribly wrong. It is possible that, as a country, we can learn from this and it just might herald a shift in policy for leisure facility design and management in Britain.

"How did it come to this? Late Victorian and Edwardian pools such as Haggerston and Whitechapel, closed for the greater glory of the failed Clissold leisure centre, were designed in the main by local authority architects. Thoughtfully built, they served local communities for a century, giving few problems along the way while offering genuinely democratic places to meet, wash and exercise. And all without hype."

This piece in the Guardian bemoans the loss of architect departments within local authorities but might only be telling part of the story. Outsourcing of leisure facility management, the loss of pool management professionals, sidelining of sports people in facility design and the increasing dominance of 'gym managers' and administrators left managing large capital projects, and influencing their design, could also be a factor.

Jonathan Glancey Monday 01 March 2004"[The Guardian ]

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| press and publicity | 4 March 2004; 10:18:49 AM |# | | Discuss |