#COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS
London's first public suspended swimming pool planned for Croydon
After a spate of luxury developments with private suspended swimming pools, developer Guildhouse has announced plans for a Croydon skyscraper with a glass-bottomed pool on the 14th floor that would be open for everyone.
The company has amended earlier plans submitted for the One Lansdowne Road building, which was originally designed as a 55-floor skyscraper that would house offices, flats and a hotel.
Guildhouse has now proposed a design that features two tower blocks, containing 35 and 65 storeys, that will be bridged at the 14th floor by a 25-metre-long glass-bottomed swimming pool.
This would be the second of its kind in London, with a similar glass "sky pool" planned to link apartment blocks in London's new Nine Elms quarter, close to Battersea Power Station.
A five-tower development in Surat, Gujarat also features a transparent suspended pool, that will bridge residential blocks.
"We've nicked an idea from Nine Elms and are going to have a swimming pool flying between the two buildings," said Guildhouse chief executive David Hudson. "That would be a public facility along with a gym."
The 65-storey "mini-Shard" would be the tallest building in Croydon, and could host the highest bar in Europe.
"Because we are going to be so high, with views of London and views of the south, we are going to have a viewing gallery at the very top of the building to get people into the building and get it to become an attraction," added Hudson.
Guildhouse has not yet released images of what the pool might look like. The addition was apparently the idea of the China Building Technique Group Company, which recently signed a £500 million contract to construct the building.
The structure would also feature 14,864 square metres of office space, as well as 184 studio apartments, 419 one-bedrooms flats, 334 two-beds, 12 three-beds and 12 penthouse suites.
The developers are set to submit a planning application at the end of 2015, and intend to complete construction in 2018.
