Historic Templemore Baths ready to open to the public
The £17 million-pound transformation of east Belfast’s Templemore Baths has reached completion.
The building’s historic features have been painstakingly restored with the addition of modern leisure facilities.
The development began in 2017 and has taken more than five years to complete head of the official reopening, members of the public have been invited to trial the space.
For his first public engagement in post, Belfast Lord Mayor Ryan Murphy was given a guided tour.
“One of the unique selling points of Belfast is our history. This is a perfect example of how we can try and bring some of that history back to life and back into use so that all the citizens of Belfast are able to come in and not only enjoy where we have come from but also enjoy what we currently have on offer,” said Mr Murphy.
The Templemore Baths is the latest development in the Council’s £105 million LeisureTransformation Programme.
Belfast City Council invested £12 million in the project, with the remaining £5 million provided by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Angela Lanvin, Senior Investment Manager for The National Lottery Heritage Fund told UTV: “This is one of the last remaining Victorian baths, the fact that it is in East Belfast where people have memories of coming to this facility for years in the past and now they can bring back their families again. There is a real sense of connection with the local community and that is really nice to see.”
The building’s heritage is celebrated through a new interactive attraction managed by EastSide Partnership.
Visitors will be able to observe the original slipper baths where Titanic dockers bathed in 1891.
The original architectural features have been restored utilising construction methods of yesteryear and recycled materials.
Social Enterprise GLL which operates 16 leisure centres across the city will manage the state-of- the art leisure facilities including a 25m pool and spa.
Gareth Kirk, Senior Regional Director of GLL said: “What has been delivered is just phenomenal. These are highly complex buildings, traditional old facilities over a hundred years old have been taken apart and put back together in an amazing way so that everyone in Belfast can really enjoy them”.
The Templemore Baths will open to the public on Monday 19th June.
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