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Venue: Ponds Forge |
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Ponds Forge is a world class venue at the
heart of the Sheffield community. It is an
International Sports Centre with fantastic
facilities and exciting opportunities for sport,
leisure and entertainment. Having recently
completed a refurbishment project, this
impressive venue offers a wide range of health &
fitness facilities.
Ponds Forge is at the south-western side of
the major traffic Roundabout Park Square,
conveniently placed for access in Sheffield City
Centre. Within five to ten minutes walking
distance of the bus & train interchange, the
complex is also served by the nearby tramstop of
Fitzalan Square/Ponds Forge. The Sheffield
Parkway is a conveniently placed
dual-carriageway that runs directly from Park
Square to junction 33 of the M1 motorway.
Ponds Forge was designed by the architects
FaulknerBrowns and opened in 1991 as a venue for
the World Student Games, which the city hosted
that year.
As well as the latter, Ponds Forge has hosted
many swimming competitions and other events. In
recent years it has been host (along with the
nearby Don Valley Stadium) to Channel Four's
'The Games', whereby celebrities compete against
each other in a wide range of events.
The name Ponds Forge is borrowed from the
steel works that formerly occupied this site and
a 7 ft high anvil has been left in situ next to
the building, partly because it would have been
too expensive to move it.
The River Sheaf runs under the site and
flooded the car park on the 21 Dec 1991,
shutting the complex for 6 days. Proof of this
can be found on platform Five of Sheffield
railway station, because the Sheaf also runs
under that, and it also flooded at the same
time. A piece of debris from "The Flood" is
displayed there and the plaque mounted on it has
the same date.
The 50 metre pool at Ponds Forge is one of
three in England built to current World and
Olympic standards, and home to many sporting
events. The main pool hall is 90 m long by 60 m
wide and when the arches for the roof were
constructed temporary supports for them were
necessary.
When these were removed it "settled" 150 mm.
It has two movable bulkheads (so the main tank
can be split into 2 or 3 individual pools) and
the floors at the end quarters can be raised or
lowered from surface level down to 2 m depth. In
its long course mode with the bulkheads at the
extreme ends it has 10 lanes. If used "width
ways" up to twenty 25 m lanes are available.
A sophisticated ozone water treatment system
is employed that results in lower levels of
irritants and reduced toxicity compared with
traditional methods of treatment. The quality of
the pool means that a great many events are held
there which creates valuable exposure for the
city of Sheffield and brings in much revenue for
the city's hotels etc. The down side is the
consequent unavailability for its regular users
whilst those events are being held. A number of
world records have been set in the pool although
only one was long course. The latter was in the
heats of the European Championships on the 3
August 1993 when Károly Güttler of Hungary went
1.00.95 to set a new world mark in the 100 m
breaststroke. As well as competition-level
swimming, the pool is also used for lessons,
diving, kayaking and scuba diving. It is also
open to the general public for lane swimming.
Official website
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