Published: 27 March, 2014
by RICHARD OSLEY

A GIANT man-made bathing pond is due to be built in the middle of King’s Cross – bringing a flavour of Hampstead Heath to the railway lands.

In eye-catching designs, the pond, bordered with rocks and plants, would sit in what is currently a vacant plot on the regeneration site behind King’s Cross station.

The proposals are filed in Camden’s planning database as an art installation but the paperwork says it will be intended as a public bathing pond.

“People who enter the site must agree to certain ‘house rules’. It will be a place to swim and relax in a secluded atmosphere only a 10-minute walk from King’s Cross station,” say the plans made available to the public.

It will be an attempt to recreate the sensation of swimming in ponds like the waters on the Heath, which are celebrated for being chemical-free.

“A conventional swimming pool uses chemicals to kill micro-organisms in the water,” the planning documents say. “This isn’t necessary in a natural pool where the cleaning work is carried out by micro-organisms which exist together in equilibrium.”

If granted planning consent at the Town Hall, it is hoped the pond would be ready for use by July and then stay in place for 18 months.

The application was submitted by the King’s Cross Central Partnership, which is developing and managing the regeneration site, although the idea has been worked on by Dutch architects Ooze and Slovenian-based artist Marjetica Potrc.

Ian Freshwater, project manager at Argent, the main developer of the King’s Cross site, said: “Visitors will find it an unusual experience to walk through a boarded walkway and encounter this pond in the middle of a construction site. Although we expect the pond to be less popular as a bathing facility in autumn and winter, we have taken inspiration from places like lidos in London where certain communities use it all year around.” 

The pond will be able to cater for 163 bathers a day through a ticketing system, the proposals say, and will close at dusk.