How the new sauna would look in Kentish Town

TAKING a sauna usually conjures up imagery of a pinewood hotbox on the bank of a pristine Nordic lake – but for Anglo-Finnish sauna firm Lowlu, a plot neighbouring railway tracks is just as tempting.

It has applied to the Town Hall for permission to build six timber framed saunas  ­– designed to be in place for three years ­– in Caversham Road, Kentish Town. The land has recently been used for storage, but a bid to make it a permanent car lot was rejected last year.

Lowlu owners Sami Rintala and Tom Bacon run a sauna experience in south London and hope to open a number across the UK.

Mr Rintala is an internationally renowned sauna architect, who first designed a floating hotbox in Norway after graduating from the Helsinki School of Architecture in 2000.

He went on to build similar structures in sauna-loving nations including  Denmark, Estonia and Russia.

Business partner Mr Bacon moved to Finland in 2000 and was smitten by the sauna culture of his adopted country.

Landing in Helsinki, he tried one of the city’s low cost saunas which is open 24 hours a day – and was hooked.

“I went from being someone who did not understand saunas to being a convert and then to be an evangelist,” he said. “I remember the first time: I went into the sauna and then into cold water and it was incredible. I was completely hooked. It just felt amazing.”

He said: “When I moved back home I remember thinking how we lack a sauna culture, but we are a country perfect for it. We have a cold and wet climate with dark winter nights. Our whole shtick is trying to bring Finnish sauna culture to the UK.”

He said there was a misconception in the UK that saunas were something that came with expensive indoor spas and not an affordable addition to a healthy lifestyle.

How the site currently looks

Lowlu is working with leisure centre, gyms and sports clubs to install saunas in underused spaces, such as car parks.

He said: “They are easy to put up and easy to take down afterwards and we can pass on the  savings to the customers.”

He added the Caversham Road plot has attracted anti-social behaviour in the past – and this would help improve the road.

He said: “It is a brilliant spot for a sauna – right by a railway, so there are no concerns with noise, for example. The neighbours like the idea and have been really supportive.

“We know the land has something of a seedy past. Our plan is to create an icon for the area. And north London is a desert for saunas. I live in the Cally Road and it is some distance to travel to find one.”

The designs for Caversham Road show new timber decking, sauna cabins, cold plunge pools, showers and changing rooms.

Timber fencing will ensure neighbouring houses do not get grandstand views of people as they experience what sauna users call a health-enhancing  “thermal ping pong” – going from a hot sauna into a freezing cold plunge pool and back again.

In its application, Lowlu said: “The proposal seeks to replace the existing, underused space with the introduction of a leisure and wellbeing operation.”