If you’ve been out and about along the foreshore this week, you may have noticed scaffolding going up around Tinside Lido, this is the first of the regeneration works which form part of the five-year Horizons Project programme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Tinside Lido is a 180 feet in diameter, semi-circular, sea water bathing pool built in 1935. Faithfully restored and re-opened in 2003, it now represents one of the best examples of surviving art-deco Lido pools in the country and was listed grade 2 as a building of special architectural and historic interest in 1998 by Historic England. The Lido setting is reflected by its status as a grade 2 historic park and garden as well as being included in the Hoe Conservation Area.

The Lido is managed and operated by Plymouth Active Leisure on a ten-year lease having taken over from ‘Everyone Active’ just over two years ago and is a key partner in this project.

Our local contractors Nevada will scaffold the whole building in order to undertake necessary surveys to inform the repair works which will start at the beginning of June. The exciting refurbishment works will regenerate and breathe new life into the buildings with completion in Spring 2025.

None of the works taking place will affect the use of the Lido, in fact, our partners at Plymouth Active Leisure have a new and exciting programme of activities planned for the summer, which you can check out here.

We’ll be following the work as it progresses, so keep an eye on our social channels for hard hat tours and Q&A sessions, in the interim, here is a high-level view of what’s in store for Tinside Lido.

  • This largely vacant space will be restored and repurposed to promote youth and community activities, support youth work, digital skills and community uses and help generate income from commercial events, making the most of the stunning views of Plymouth Sound National Marine Park.
  • A revamp to the single-storey building located between the Lido and Tinside Cove. Providing a space specifically for young people and a place to run Ranger events to introduce opportunities created by our National Marine Park.
  • The terrace on top of the main building will be renovated to include a new public seating area to include a coffee pod and multi-purposed event space overlooking the Sound.

These new facilities are designed to open up Tinside Lido and welcome a greater number of people to this spectacular site whilst supporting spaces for young people and community use. Further to that, the changes will provide space to enable youth workers and partners to engage and enable young people to develop skills for work and life.  It will provide a space for insights and pathways into technology that aid our oceans, innovation and creative industries as well as a safe space for exploring blue health benefits through swimming, coastal volunteering activities and general interaction with nature.

Although we will endeavour to keep disruption to a minimum, there will be a temporary removal of a small number of car parking/taxi spaces due to the deliveries of building materials from Hoe Road. The Waste Whale will also be temporarily migrating a bit further down the road.

We are super excited about the restoration plans that will transform the whole venue.  The changes will bring people together from all walks of life.  Enabling everyone to experience, discover and learn about the PSNMP whilst retaining and protecting everything about Tinside that makes it such an iconic and well loved venue for generations to come.