Case Studies
Intercontinental - The O2
InterContinental London – The O2, is the luxury hotel on the Greenwich peninsular in London next to the O2 Arena.
The hotel commissioned LSPC ( London Swimming Pool Company) to build a Spa comprising a large main pool, spa pool, and a steam and sauna room, to complement its gym, massage and therapy rooms. The new facilities would enable the hotel to offer the entire Spa experience from swimming and exercise to relaxation and treatments.
It is essential for the wellbeing of guests in such a luxury Spa facility that the air quality, temperature and ambiance is unobtrusively maintained at all times.Heatstar, as London Swimming Pool Company’s “go to supplier” in this field, preferred by LSPC for almost 20 years, were chosen to install these important air-handling and environmental control functions.
To underline the project’s excellence The Spa at InterContinental London – The O2, has won the following awards:
SPATA Gold Award – Inground Commercial Spas and Wellness
SPATA Bronze Award – Commercial Pool of the Year
The Spa at InterContinental London – The O2, has been built on the ground floor, rather than in the basement, to ensure the hotel’s Spa zone is light, airy and welcoming.The bespoke design includes the large main pool with a waterfall that cascades from the pool and spa dividing wall.
The spa pool is not a run-of-the-mill acrylic one, but a bespoke concrete design measuring 4.4 x 2.7 metres with a lounger at each end of the central bench. The loungers have bubble trays which give full air massaging, and the bench has both back and calf water/air mixture jets for relaxing massages. Two AstralPool neck-jet water cannons send exhilarating bursts of water into the spa pool.
The pool interior has been finished with Waxman Ceramic blue mosaic tiles, and underwater lighting is by Ava Optic. To complete the tranquil atmosphere, the pool and spa surrounds have been finished with large format porcelain tiles in a creamy colour.
The pool/spa plantroom is conveniently located 10 metres from the pool. It is equipped with Astral Arctic filters (10.50 mm x 2) and Badu pumps (90/25 1.5 hp x 2) which maintain pool functionality at optimum performance. LSPC also retro-fitted an automatic backwash system to make backwashing very easy. A simple push button mechanism on the electrical control panel stops, starts and times the backwashing process, while separate levers enable the in-house pool engineer to control the flow-direction of water.
When choosing the optimum environmental control system for this prestigious and demanding installation LSPC worked with Heatstar to specify the Heatstar PHOENIX EC 6000 Super AR air handling unit. Encompassing all the available energy saving technologies and fully compliant with the latest building control regulations for commercial applications the Phoenix EC represents the optimum and uncompromised environmental control solution for the highest specification indoor swimming pools.
On completion, Heather Hamilton, Operations Director of InterContinental London – The O2, told London Swimming Pool Company “We’re aiming to become the number 1 luxury Spa in Greenwich and the pool is a big step towards achieving that goal. The new facilities allow us to offer the entire spa experience and our guests love the fact that our pool is larger than the average pool in a London hotel. Breaking away from the age-old tradition of locating Spas in basements gives our Spa facility lots of daylight which appeals to customers. To complete the relaxing aura, the soft colours and lighting make our Spa Instagram worthy.”
