What should you do if your neighbour keeps flooding your garden? The renovation of the Steele outdoor pool in Essen is an extraordinary story.

Bernd

The Steele outdoor pool in Essen lies directly on the Ruhr River. Although this loca­tion is picturesque, it is also dange­rous during not-uncommon floo­ding events: in July 2021, the “Bernd” low-pres­sure system resulted in the floo­ding of the swim­ming pool and damage to the tech­nical faci­li­ties and the club­house.

Ther­e­fore, the Sports and Swim­ming Pools Depart­ment of the city of Essen, as owners, and Schwimm­freunde Steele 1911, as tenants and users, natu­rally demanded that resi­li­ence to floo­ding events should be part of the recon­s­truc­tion.

The plan­ning was carried out by the Deye Plan­ning Office in Hatten, while the pool basin was built by Myrtha Pools.

River bath

The Steele outdoor pool was founded in 1945 from a river bathing faci­lity on the Ruhr, and is the smal­lest outdoor pool in Essen. After exten­sive reno­va­tion, it was reopened with a ceremony in May 2024 — and it has already passed the test when it comes to floo­ding.

Now it can fulfil its purpose as an idyllic meeting place with in a wonderful setting, as a sports faci­lity for both young and old and as a desti­na­tion for excur­sions for the whole family.

With a water surface of almost 400 m², the combined 25m swim­mers’ and non-swim­mers’ pool is the centre­piece of the faci­lity. It is heated and main­tained at a plea­sant water tempe­ra­ture of around 23°C, provi­ding a comfor­table swim­ming expe­ri­ence even on cooler days.

Containers

The decision to house all of the pool tech­no­logy in contai­ners is also far-sighted and ground­brea­king in compa­rison to similar projects, because they can be taken to safety in good time when floo­ding is immi­nent.

By incre­asing the rein­force­ment of the banks and opti­mi­sing the drai­nage systems, the site has also been desi­gned in such a way that it can better with­stand future flood events. In addi­tion, the outdoor swim­ming area has been rede­si­gned in its enti­rety in order to create a natural barrier against floo­ding.

Topography

The design of the site also takes the natural topo­graphy into account, and harmo­niously inte­grates the pool into its envi­ron­ment. A large sunbathing lawn with shady trees offers visi­tors peace and rela­xa­tion, while a modern play­ground and a clim­bing course appeal in parti­cular to fami­lies with children.

Since its reope­ning, the Steele outdoor pool has been very popular despite the mediocre summer of 2024, which under­lines its importance to the local commu­nity. Natu­rally, events orga­nised by the very committed SF Steele 1911, such as the annual Steeler duck race, also contri­buted to the pool quickly beco­ming a vibrant centre for sports and leisure once again.