Lahinch Leisure Centre

Lahinch, Co. Clare, Ireland

The newly re-opened Lahinch Leisure Centre is a state-of-the-art facility, featuring a 25-metre heated swimming pool, learner pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. A two-storey fitness gym overlooks the Promenade and Liscannor Bay. Funding for the facility upgrade was obtained through several community schemes, as well as local fundraising.

The Community Development Association established the site in 1963 as a dance hall and outdoor swimming pool, which operated for the next 30 years. In the mid-1990s, a large-scale renovation saw the pool modernised and enclosed. This revamped facility opened in 1996 and served the community up to its closure in December 2019. Now, the centre is once again open to the public.

The Thorlux Ireland office, based in Dublin, worked closely with the design team to complete detailed general lighting and emergency lighting schemes. The final installation has almost four hundred SmartScan luminaires.

The SmartScan system optimises the energy consumption at Lahinch, while also ensuring user comfort. The SmartScan system not only reduces power consumption but also provides comprehensive automatic testing and reporting of the emergency lighting to the requirements of IS3217.

The project features a broad range of Thorlux products throughout the premises, including Solow XLED, Kanby LED Controller, Starguard LED, Clara 720, Plateau, G4 surface, A-Line, Thoroproof, G3, Cobalt, Realta, Lexi, Firefly, Dot, and Comboseal. The two-storey fitness gym features a striking use of Hi-Bar Suspended luminaires in a continuous configuration.

Through funding support from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the facility has achieved an EU classification as a Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB). Additional funding from the Irish Government’s LEADER rural development programme has delivered energy upgrade works to further heighten the environmental sustainability of the centre. In all, the upgraded leisure centre will save approximately €100,000 annually in energy costs.