When the Geerdegemvaart swimming pool closed down for good, Mechelen lost a significant proportion of its swimming facilities in one fell swoop. Schools, swimming clubs and residents needed an alternative quickly. Waiting years for a new swimming pool was not an option.
The solution did not come from a single central location. Mechelen opted for four neighbourhood swimming pools, spread across the city and its boroughs. This brought swimming facilities closer to the people who need them.
On 30 June 2026, the Geerdegemvaart swimming pool closed its doors for good. After more than fifty years, the building was structurally unsound. There was concrete deterioration in the foundations, the environmental licence was due to expire, and major maintenance work carried the risk of damaging the swimming pools.
Investing millions more in stopgap repairs offered no certainty for the future. A thorough refurbishment would cost even more and put the swimming pool out of use for years.
Meanwhile, the Plopsaqua project – which was intended to replace Geerdegemvaart – had also fallen through. This left Mechelen with a very real problem: the old swimming pool was closed, whilst a new, permanent solution was still years away.
Elsewhere in Flanders, too, local swimming facilities are under pressure. Swimming pools are getting older, waiting lists for swimming lessons are growing, and anyone wishing to build a new swimming pool faces a process that can take years.
You soon start to feel the effects of this shortage. Schools are struggling to secure enough swimming lessons. Swimming clubs are looking for free lanes. For older people and those with disabilities, finding an accessible swimming facility close to home is becoming less and less a given.
Children who do not take swimming lessons by the age of eight cannot simply make up for that shortfall later on. A shortage of swimming facilities therefore has consequences that last longer than the period during which a swimming pool is closed. Children have fewer opportunities to learn to swim properly, even though swimming proficiency is particularly important in a country full of canals, ponds and open water.
Distance is also a factor. Driving to a swimming pool in the next town might be possible if you have a car and your schedule allows it. For many families, however, this is not so straightforward. The further away the swimming facilities are, the greater the likelihood that swimming lessons will also disappear.
Mechelen therefore did not opt for a single alternative on the other side of the city. Swimwise installed four mobile neighbourhood swimming pools at various locations: at schools, on sports sites and in the boroughs.
That makes a noticeable difference. Schools don’t have to travel all the way across town by bus every time, and residents can find places to swim closer to home.
The swimming pools use natural, chlorine-free water (ZUUVR) and are equipped with changing rooms and toilet facilities. They are also accessible to people with reduced mobility. The main difference compared with traditional swimming pool facilities lies in the speed and flexibility: the pools can be installed within a few months and relocated later if requirements change.
Zennewater is set to open on 28 September 2026 at KMTHC in Hombeek. Pupils from De Esdoorn and Sint-Maarten primary schools will be the first to swim there, alongside Mayor Bart Somers and the Councillor for Sport, Abdrahman Labsir.
A double-pool facility is to be built on the inline-skating track next to the closed Geerdegemvaart swimming pool, making it the largest of the four local swimming pools. It’s a logical choice: many residents of Mechelen were already used to coming here to swim.
Den Otter will be situated opposite the Cruyff Court in Otterbeek. This will mean that this neighbourhood, too, will have a swimming facility nearby, without residents having to travel to a more distant swimming pool every time.
The fourth swimming pool will be built on the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences site. The Winketkaai was originally earmarked as the location, but the plan was amended following a request from local residents.
This is precisely where a portable swimming pool demonstrates its flexibility. Whereas such a change would quickly require a new planning application for fixed infrastructure, here it was possible to move to a more suitable location at short notice.
For primary schools, swimming lessons are set to become a lot easier. The swimming pools are closer by, which means shorter journeys and less of the school budget being spent on coach transport.
Swimming clubs, organisations and recreational swimmers will also have more opportunities. The available capacity is no longer concentrated in one central location, but spread across various neighbourhoods.
The local swimming pools are not the end of the story. They ensure that Mechelen can continue to offer swimming facilities today whilst the city carries on working on its long-term plans: the Nekkerpool as an urban swimming pool and a permanent swimming area in the Keerdok.
This means it doesn’t have to be a choice between waiting for years or building something quickly that will no longer be needed afterwards. Local swimming pools bridge that gap perfectly.
A swimming pool closing down is more than just a building disappearing. For schools, it means longer journeys. For clubs, it means fewer available hours. And for children, it can quite simply mean that learning to swim becomes more difficult.
Mechelen chose not to wait until a single large swimming pool was ready again. Instead, it distributed the swimming water to four locations where it can already be used today.
So sometimes the solution doesn’t have to be bigger. It just needs to be closer.
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