It has been reported, that after five years of difficulties, Bristol’s ‘The Wave’ wavepool has finally got off the ground, with a proposed finish date of 2018 for the project.
The project was started in 2012 by Nick Hounsfield and Tobin Coles and along with a wavepool, proposed the construction of a natural swimming lake, barefoot trails and vast gardens, which would be used to grow food. However the project soon ran into difficulties after planning was rejected for spatial reasons. The pair began to draw up a new set of plans, but then Brexit happened, triggering a massive currency shift, which Nick claimed sent construction costs soaring ‘by over £1.2million’.
The project had initially set out to utilise the WaveGarden tech from Spain (which was used for Surf Snowdonia), however after a shake up they decided to switch to Wave Loch’s ‘Wave Pool’ design. It uses air pressure to generate the swell, rather than a moving plough down a central reservation, like Surf Snowdonia and Slater’s wave pool.
Wave Loch sets out to provide waves for everyone from absolute beginners to experienced surfers, stating that they aim to create waves surfers could “go straight [on] or progress obliquely to the beach, on either a curling or spilling wave,”.
“At the end of the summer we were made an offer for one-third of the construction cost by a large investment fund,” Mr Hounsfield stated in a recent interview on the project. “This was a really exciting moment for us and it began a momentum, which has not stopped. One month ago, a significant investment fund pledged to stand beside us to see The Wave in Bristol built.” Accordingly, construction is due to begin at the Easter Compton, Almondsbury location within the next year.
Undoubtedly there will be more and more wave pools popping up all over the world over the next few years, with plans already in the works in Australia to erect three by 2020, and so we hope that this one in Bristol will stand up in quality alongside these, as well as those which already exist.
Cover Photo by WaveLoch
