PROJECT
TEMPLEMORE BATHS, BELFAST
dressing boxes. The cubicles with slipper baths and the smaller original pool are now part of an exhibition, with pictures, memorabilia and interactive sections with videos, audio content and even a few surprises – be careful not to open a cubicle door without knocking first! Visitors can also travel back in time with the smell of carbolic soap, which filled the air when the Baths were fully operational. The newly built 28,000sq ft extension has more than doubled the building’s footprint and features its own bit of history as well. The new leisure centre was erected where previously stood the Ulster Hospital for Women and Sick Children, built in 1872. The hospital was severely damaged in the Belfast Blitz in 1941 and moved to Dundonald, where it was renamed Ulster Hospital, as it is known today.
circular economy in a heritage project, elements of the original fabric of the Baths were repurposed within the building. For example, timber purlins were used for window repairs and the bricks were reclaimed and reused. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS The new extension at Templemore Baths features a 25-meter pool, a bespoke sauna, and heated loungers for users to relax after a steam session (see more on page 35), a luxury that the Friday night dockers probably could have never imagined. However, visitors today are able to enjoy the best of both worlds and go for a swim at a unique landmark building. Over the next pages, learn more about how local companies worked together to bring out the best of the old and the new at Templemore Baths.
TREASURES ALONG THE WAY A modern café now stands in the old Bath’s courtyard and features one of the artefacts found during the excavation of the grounds by the Heron Bros team: a beautiful Victorian fountain. Once forgotten, the fountain now takes a central place. The team also discovered old early 20th- century wooden benches that have been restored and other little treasures. “We also found old tools, spanners and other objects; we protected them all in situ and then restored them,” Site Manager Diarmuid Mullan told NI Builder (see more on page 26). “Some of the original bricks are stamped internally, so they were cleaned and now can be seen on display as well.” Some of the findings also got a second life, even if in a different shape. In a great example of the very modern concept of
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