Fusion Lifestyle submits plans to restore Broomhill Lido in Ipswich – bringing the project a step forward

Plans to restore an outdoor public swimming pool in Ipswich to its former glory have taken a step forward.

This week, Fusion Lifestyle submitted plans to Ipswich Borough Council for the renovation of grade II-listed Broomhill Lido, in Sherrington Road.

Back in 2011, the firm was selected to undertake the extensive work needed to restore and reopen the lido – and £10 million in funding was secured for the project last month.

Swimmers could dive into the pool by 2026, more than two decades since it closed.

According to planning documents, Fusion Lifestyle would attempt to restore the pool and structures as much as possible. Its status as a listed building means the lido’s art deco theme must be kept intact.

In addition, the 700-seat grandstand and changing facilities would be refurbished and the terraced seating would be waterproofed.

The entrance kiosk would be renovated to look as close as possible to the way it did when the pool opened in 1938.

Modernisation plans include the construction of a health and wellbeing centre, making the pool wheelchair accessible, an expansion to the car park and the addition of disabled parking bays and bicycle stands.

A spokesperson for Fusion said in an ideal world, with unlimited funding, additions made in the 1960s such as pool edge details would be removed and replaced with elements replicating the 1938 style.

Instead the pool edge would be restored as it is, although timber roofs over the buildings would be removed and the art deco motif on the parapet walls reinstated, planning documents said.

Broomhill Lido shut in 2002. One year later a group of campaigners got together to get it reopened. Planning permission to restore the site, alongside funding, was originally granted in 2019, but expired.

Fusion Lifestyle has a 50-year lease for the site.

At 55 yards long and 15ft deep, Broomhill Lido was among Britain’s largest open-air pools.

In 2006, Broomhill Lido Trust supervised a £67,000 feasibility study.

In 2019, a further £7 million was secured and a ‘levelling up’ bid was rejected in 2022.

The proposals will go before planners soon.