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Francis Holland School - Swimming Pool Refurbishment

A specialist swimming pool and facilities refurbishment in a live school — moisture- and safety-rated throughout, delivered safely and on schedule, ready for pupils in time for the new term.

Programme
16 weeks
Total area
1,250 m²
Location
London
Sector
Education

Craftex was appointed to refurbish the swimming pool and surrounding facilities at an independent London school — a specialist environment with its own technical demands and a non-negotiable deadline: the new term. A pool refurbishment combines difficult conditions, strict safety requirements and a fixed calendar, and we managed all three end to end, delivering a facility ready for pupils on day one.

Project Overview

A complete commercial gym fit-out delivered for a Banbury-based health and fitness operator. From shell to fully operational training facility in four weeks — joinery, mechanical, electrical, flooring and equipment installation, all coordinated through a single point of accountability.

A specialist facility, refurbished to standard.

A swimming pool environment is one of the more technically demanding spaces to refurbish — moisture, ventilation, durable surfaces and safety standards all have to be right. We delivered a refurbishment that meets those technical requirements while giving the school a bright, welcoming facility pupils want to use.

Education-aware delivery, single point of contact.

Working in a school means safety and the calendar come first. Craftex managed every trade directly, worked to the constraints of an education setting, and sequenced the project around term dates so the school could plan with confidence.

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How It Works

Brief. Build. Deliver.

  1. Step One

    The Brief & Design

    • Scope agreed around the school's needs and pool technical standards
    • Moisture- and safety-appropriate finishes specified before works
    • Safety provisions designed for a live education setting
    • Survey, sequencing and procurement built around the term calendar
  2. Step Two

    The Build

    • Specialist works delivered safely on a live school site
    • Environment-rated surfaces and finishes installed throughout
    • Pool, surrounds and facilities refurbished to standard
    • Every trade directly managed to protect schedule and safety
  3. Step Three

    Handover & Aftercare

    • Safe, compliant, ready-to-use facility delivered for term
    • Completed within the fixed calendar window
    • Single accountable team from brief to handover
    • Aftercare support to keep a demanding environment performing

Designing a pool environment that performs

A swimming pool is a hostile environment for materials — constant moisture, chemicals and heavy use punish anything that isn't specified correctly. We designed the refurbishment around finishes and provisions built for those conditions, while making the space bright, safe and genuinely welcoming for pupils. The technical requirements and the experience were treated as one brief, not a trade-off.

Planning around the school calendar

In an education setting the deadline is immovable: the facility has to be ready for term. Our pre-construction phase surveyed the existing pool and facilities, specified moisture- and safety-appropriate materials, and built a sequenced programme to fit the available window — typically the pressured gap that school works have to land in. Safety planning for a live school site was locked in before any works began.

Executing safely in an education setting

Craftex managed every trade directly and delivered the specialist works to programme, with safety in a school environment as the constant priority. A pool refurbishment leaves little room for error or overrun, and direct control of the trades is what kept both the standard and the schedule intact.

The result, and what happened after

The refurbished pool opened ready for pupils — safe, compliant, bright and built to handle the demands of daily school use. Our aftercare support continued beyond handover to keep the facility performing.

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Your pupils deserve a pool that is safe, durable and ready for term.

Whether you are refurbishing an existing school pool or upgrading the surrounding facilities, Craftex delivers a safe, welcoming space built for moisture, heavy use and fixed term deadlines.

Challenges & Solutions

Every commercial fit-out has its constraints. Here's how this one was solved.

Challenges

Solutions

  1. 01

    A technically hostile environment

    A pool space punishes anything specified incorrectly, with constant moisture, chemicals and heavy use attacking every surface.

    Environment-rated specification

    Moisture-, chemical- and safety-appropriate materials were specified throughout so the refurbishment performs under real pool conditions.

  2. 02

    A non-negotiable deadline

    The facility had to be ready for the new term; the date could not move under any circumstances.

    Calendar-built programme

    The works were sequenced to land safely inside the available window, protecting the term deadline.

  3. 03

    A live school site

    Working safely in an education setting put pupil and staff safety above everything else throughout the works.

    School-setting safety planning

    Education-specific safety measures were locked in before works began, with direct trade control maintaining them on site.

  4. 04

    A facility pupils want to use

    Beyond the technical fix, the space had to feel bright, safe and genuinely welcoming, not merely functional.

    Welcoming by design

    A bright, inviting finish was delivered alongside the technical refurbishment, giving pupils a facility they actually want to use.

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