After a fire in 2014 destroyed its original pool building, the City of London Freemen’s School has bounced back with a beautiful state-of-the-art swimming pool for students and student athletes to enjoy.
Designed by the award-winning architects Hawkins/Brown, the pool was completed in 2017. It features a 25 meter-long, six-lane competition pool as well as changing facilities and a “multi-purpose teaching and events space.”
The expansive new pool building was relocated from the west to the east side of the Freemen’s campus, which now means it sits next to the other existing sports facilities, setting a more cohesive tone to the school as a whole.
“Freemen’s School’s new swimming pool is a welcoming retreat that engages with the mature woodland setting through the use of natural materials and color schemes,” Adam Cossey, partner at Hawkins/Brown shares in a statement to Architonic. “The deep columns of the all-timber construction and wrap-around glazing, which afford direct views from the water into the woodland, give the sense of swimming amongst the trees.”
Using a glue-laminated (or glulam) timber portal frame and bracing the entire project with cross-laminated timber panels, the pool’s building is sustainable, providing a “fast, efficient, carbon neutral method of construction that provides both structure and internal finish.”
“The school is overwhelmed by the beauty and quality of the new swimming pool,” says Roland Martin, headmaster of Freemen’s. “It is a fantastic new asset for our school and local community.”
This article first appeared in the June 2025 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
