Four mobile swimming pools, spread across the city. Not to meet targets, but to bring swimming facilities closer to those who need them.
Like many Flemish cities and municipalities, Mechelen is facing a structural shortage of swimming facilities: outdated infrastructure, long waiting lists for swimming lessons and a construction programme for a new swimming pool that could take years to complete.
Meanwhile, demand is growing. Schools are not being allocated enough swimming lessons, clubs cannot find any available pools, and too many children are at risk of growing up without the chance to learn to swim safely. For Mechelen, it was clear: those children cannot wait until the building plans are finalised.
Vier zwembaden, verspreid over de stad, op de plekken waar de nood het hoogst is.
Swimwise Pools is installing four portable swimming pools at strategic locations in Mechelen: close to schools, sports centres and neighbourhoods. Children no longer have to take the bus to a swimming pool on the other side of the city. The swimming pool is already in their neighbourhood.
The pools are modular and scalable: as demand changes, capacity grows accordingly. They are fully equipped with changing rooms and toilet facilities, and use natural swimming water. This means that every child, every club and every local resident has access to a fully-fledged swimming facility, without years of construction work.
Not years of construction, but a flexible process that will make additional swimming areas available in the short term.
2 weeks
Permanent solution
2 months
2 weeks
September 2026
Schools will have easier access to swimming facilities and shorter waiting times, so that no child has to miss their swimming lessons.
Clubs and local residents can visit venues close to home, located throughout Mechelen.
The portable pools are already providing Mechelen with additional swimming capacity today, whilst the city continues to work on its long-term plans for the future.
With an additional 900 m² of swimming space, Mechelen will soon be reaching more than 20,000 children per school year. Not somewhere far away, but close to their school, their club and their neighbourhood. In this way, Swimwise Pools ensures that swimming is not a matter of chance or postcode, but of a city that invests in its residents.
Four fully-fledged Swimclad facilities, designed down to the last detail, so that the focus can be on what really matters: people learning to swim.
Three 25-metre Swimclad pools and one double 25-metre Swimclad pool, providing a total of 900 m² of additional swimming space
The pools use natural swimming water, with no chlorine in the pool itself.
Each facility is equipped with the necessary changing rooms and toilet facilities.
Thermal insulation and energy-efficient operation help to reduce energy consumption.
Capacity can be expanded, relocated or adapted to suit local requirements.
No need to wait years for construction to be completed: the first swimming pool will be up and running as early as September 2026.
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