Cheb announces an architectural competition for a new swimming pool center

Cheb – Cheb wants to announce an architectural competition for the design of the future swimming center in the city. It should serve as preparation for the construction of a new pool. However, the current leadership of the city wants to leave the final decision on the location and construction until after the next municipal elections, said Cheb Mayor Antonín Jalovec (VPM) to ČTK.

"We have prepared a study of the interior facilities of the pool and the arrangement of the pool center, which was developed for us by a renowned company. We want to use this study as a basis for the subsequent architectural competition, which should take place sometime in the winter, where architects will receive this brief and develop proposals for the design of the pool, which we could then present to the public," Jalovec stated.

The facilities study that the city already has primarily addresses what the pool center should include to compete with similar facilities in the surrounding area. Among other things, it proposes some unconventional features, such as a waterslide that can be used with inflatable tubes, outdoor sauna cabins, or a part of the pool with saltwater that would extend into outdoor spaces.

The current city leadership is clear about the location of the new pool, which should be in the space of the current gardening colony behind the Spáleniště housing estate. However, the opposition proposes other alternatives. Therefore, the city leadership does not want to make irreversible changes before the next municipal elections. If construction were to actually begin, it would be one of the largest investments in the city in the past several decades. It is estimated to be around 300 million crowns.

Until a final decision is made about the construction of the new pool, the city of Cheb wants to keep the existing municipal pool operational, which, although it no longer meets current requirements and is expensive to maintain, remains important, especially for schools. In addition to it, people from Cheb can currently use, for example, the modern AquaForum in Františkovy Lázně, the natural swimming area at the Jesenice dam, as well as pool centers in the German border region.