Cllr Mullaney, Cabinet Member for Sports, Leisure and Culture has today put an update on his blog re. the work to Pool 2. The pool closed at the beginning of the year and it has taken until now to identify the extent of the work to be done, prepare a business case and secure funds. However, the money has now been secured and work is due to begin soon. The full text of Cllr Mullaney’s update is below:
Update on Moseley Road baths – 22nd February 2011
At the moment Moseley Road baths is temporarily closed. Background to this closure can be read at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/01/update-on-moseley-road-baths-14-th.html
As of yesterday, the funds to repair the fire exit in pool 2, which in turn will allow the pool to re-open, have been released by the Council Finance department.
I will be attending a contractors meeting next week, along with Council officers, to agree start and finish dates for the repair work.
It is anticipated that the repair work will require, at most, five weeks. So allowing at least a week for the contractor to move onto site, we are mostly likely looking at an 18th April re-opening date. However, this will be confirmed next week.
The repair work is quite complex, since a structural frame will need to be constructed above the fire exit lintel so as to allow the steel lintels to the replaced. The structural frame which will be required take the weight of roof that the lintel is presenting supporting
In the meantime, the water in pool 2 is being maintained on a slow circulation. This is so as to stop the tile grout inside the pool drying out and possibly cracking, plus it maintains the sand filters.
Additional to all this, several meetings have taken place between senior Council officers to look at ways in which the restoration works for the rest of the baths could be done in phases as part of a Heritage Lottery bid.