Dunchurch Pools
Oxford Canal, Rugby
Opened in 2019 to a design we developed with the client over a ten year period. The project regenerates a rundown and neglected landscape into a high quality eco-tourism marina set in parkland and natural wildlife habitats. The marina layout takes the form of a ‘clover leaf’ with a small Central Pool at its heart. This Central Pool will act as a formal water piazza for the public buildings and as a focus for the canal entrance to the marina. Three marina pools in natural form provide secure moorings for 550 boats. Approximately half (18 ha) of the site is public parkland & wildlife habitats contributing to local biodiversity action plans, amenity for the local community and a setting for the marina.
Buildings have been designed to achieve high energy efficiency standards and the use of renewables, such as solar and biomass, combined with ground source heat pumps is anticipated to enable the facility to be operationally carbon neutral. The slender arched bridges around the central pool were designed to reference the nearby Three Junction Bridges and have become a local landmark for canal boaters and ramblers.
The project falls within two planning authorities, Rugby and Daventry and required a full Environmental Impact Assessment. The following two phases are expected to be constructed by 2025.
Project Name: Dunchurch Pools Marina
Location: Oxford Canal, Rugby
Civil and Structural Engineers: Infrastructure Design Studio
Landscape Architects: Adams Habermehl
Planning Consultant: PJP Planning
Planning Consented 2015- Phase one Complete 2019
Photography: X