Ice wall planned for Oasis

10:20am Wednesday 7th March 2012 in News

Coun Keith Williams at the Oasis Coun Keith Williams at the Oasis

THE TALLEST indoor ice climbing wall in the world could be built at the Oasis as part of a £65m project to turn the run-down leisure centre into a regional leisure destination.

Moirai Capital Investments, a property developer specialising in leisure and entertainments, has been chosen by Swindon Council to refurbish the old centre and later provide other leisure facilities at the site.

The centre, which could attract up to four million visitors a year and create up to 1,700 jobs, is planned to include a hotel, a 5,000-seater indoor arena, an indoor ski slope and a water park.

Now Keith Williams, the cabinet member for leisure and corporate services, has revealed there could also be a 70ft indoor ice climbing wall, which he understands would be the tallest in the world.

Coun Williams said the UK has a handful of such walls, including at Covent Garden, London, and Manchester, so the facility would attract ice climbers from afar, while providing a chance for more adventurous Swindon residents to try something new.

He said: “I think it’s something fairly unique and hopefully we will see people coming from far and wide to take it on. And, at the same time, potentially investing in the local economy.

“It hasn’t got broad appeal, but I think there will be people who do come from further afield who would like to climb the tallest indoor ice climbing wall in the world.

“And while we don’t anticipate thousands of people coming to do it, it’s something that perhaps can put Swindon on the map in the climbing community.”

Coun Williams said the wall was not a definite yet, but it was something the developer wanted to include in phase two of the scheme, which would be on the adjoining former Clares factory site.

The news has been welcomed by, Richard Coupland, a climbing instructor at the Link Centre, whose rock climbing wall would remain under the project.

Richard, an occasional ice climber, said: “It would be incredible. It would be a huge benefit to Swindon as far as the climbing community and mountaineering community is concerned.

“A facility like that would draw in customers from the whole south west, the whole south east, especially if it’s rumoured to be the tallest one in the world, that would bring people in from everywhere. That would be an immense benefit to the council and to the people who live in Swindon.”

Swindon Council is finalising the site leases and staff transfer agreements with the developers, with the aim of the developer starting the project later this year by taking over and refurbishing the centre.

The whole project is expected to be completed in late 2014 or early 2015.

Comments(31)

Robfm says...
10:25am Wed 7 Mar 12

There goes that election Pinky again.

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dc the 2nd says...
10:29am Wed 7 Mar 12

"could" yeah in the same way i "could" win the lottery.

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spammer01 says...
12:55pm Wed 7 Mar 12

another waste of money why invest your money in swindon it only bring more crime into swindon for theft close to m4 spend money on other projects what we want

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spammer01 says...
12:55pm Wed 7 Mar 12

another waste of money why invest your money in swindon it only bring more crime into swindon for theft close to m4 spend money on other projects what we want

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spammer01 says...
12:55pm Wed 7 Mar 12

another waste of money why invest your money in swindon it only bring more crime into swindon for theft close to m4 spend money on other projects what we want

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oldbutawake says...
12:55pm Wed 7 Mar 12

Another grandiose scheme that won't happen.

I hate election time when politicians don't even bother to disguise that they are lying through their teeth.

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spammer01 says...
1:01pm Wed 7 Mar 12

oldbutawake wrote:
Another grandiose scheme that won't happen. I hate election time when politicians don't even bother to disguise that they are lying through their teeth.
i rather sit around a large table and drink maxwell house coffee then talk some sence these politicians has no sence for our country then waste tax payers money on crap

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Always Grumpy says...
1:53pm Wed 7 Mar 12

spammer01 wrote:
oldbutawake wrote:
Another grandiose scheme that won't happen. I hate election time when politicians don't even bother to disguise that they are lying through their teeth.
i rather sit around a large table and drink maxwell house coffee then talk some sence these politicians has no sence for our country then waste tax payers money on crap
No-ones going to force you to go there!
What would you want in the town?

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moonraker says...
5:22pm Wed 7 Mar 12

Always Grumpy says...
1:53pm Wed 7 Mar 12

spammer01 wrote:
oldbutawake wrote:
Another grandiose scheme that won't happen. I hate election time when politicians don't even bother to disguise that they are lying through their teeth.
i rather sit around a large table and drink maxwell house coffee then talk some sence these politicians has no sence for our country then waste tax payers money on crap
No-ones going to force you to go there!
What would you want in the town?

An adult education centre might be a good idea!

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Always Grumpy says...
5:27pm Wed 7 Mar 12

I thought there were loads of adult education centres around the town!
Every secondary school in Swindon offers evening classes in all sorts of skills and there are loads of courses on offer during the day at New College and Swindon College.
I don't know about you, but I seem to get a booklet outlining the courses pushed through my letterbox two or three times a year.

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moonraker says...
7:24pm Wed 7 Mar 12

lways Grumpy says...
5:27pm Wed 7 Mar 12

I thought there were loads of adult education centres around the town!
Every secondary school in Swindon offers evening classes in all sorts of skills and there are loads of courses on offer during the day at New College and Swindon College.
I don't know about you, but I seem to get a booklet outlining the courses pushed through my letterbox two or three times a year.

Agreed but obviously spammer is not taking advantage of these courses!

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Always Grumpy says...
8:00pm Wed 7 Mar 12

Not getting to grips with English anyway!

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Jingle says...
8:02pm Wed 7 Mar 12

I didn't know criminals targetted icewalls - surely at 70ft it would be hard to pinch?

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I Too says...
11:48pm Wed 7 Mar 12

Wow! What next?
The Oasis could also feature a time machine and 60 million visitors, from outer space, will visit every day............

Or our local politicians might also be just talking "cobblers".

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Probonopublico says...
5:47am Thu 8 Mar 12

What would put Swindon on the map with the climbing community is a decent dry climbing wall. A climber friend of mine said Swindon's Link wall is rubbish. Why attract climbers to Swindon with all that extra fuel consumption when this sort of thing would be more useful in Bristol where there IS a climbing community to talk of? It sounds like another of Swindon's famous white elephants, like the David Murray John building and the big screen and the sculptures. Why don't our councillors spend our money on something all of Swindon can benefit from, instead of wasting it on something a few people might try once and even fewer will use more times?

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KeithWilliams says...
8:43am Thu 8 Mar 12

Whilst the article doesn't make this clear, no public money would be spent providing the ice wall it would be included in the £65m private sector investment that covers the rest of the site redevelopment.

As for it never happening. The ice wall would be nothing fancier than it needs to be. If you look at similar developments such as the one on Milton Keynes it is very much a reality.

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itsamess says...
9:20am Thu 8 Mar 12

The Capital investment company has a good record and if this all becomes a reality--with the emphasis on access through to the town centre and outlet village it will bring some good entertainment that we have been asking for for many years. There will always be doubts but if as they say contracts are being signed let us hope that at long last we have the makings of a good entertainments area. Fingers crossed.

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P Rowed says...
9:31am Thu 8 Mar 12

This development of the Oasis is such an exciting thing to happen to Swindon. Whilst I personally would not use an ice wall, I will be one of the first on the snow since I have not been skiing in several decades. It would seem that in spite of the Swindon residents that choose to post such negativism on this site, the developer at least has confidence in the business opportunities Swindon can offer and is willing to work with our councillors to develop a facility we will all be proud of. Yes I know it has not yet been signed sealed and delivered and that is exactly why we as residents should be posting positive comments about Swindon as an investment opportunity and not trashing our town and officials at every opportunity.

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Always Grumpy says...
9:33am Thu 8 Mar 12

itsamess wrote:
The Capital investment company has a good record and if this all becomes a reality--with the emphasis on access through to the town centre and outlet village it will bring some good entertainment that we have been asking for for many years. There will always be doubts but if as they say contracts are being signed let us hope that at long last we have the makings of a good entertainments area. Fingers crossed.
Whilst it goes against my better judgement, I have to agree with you here.
What a pity there are so many doom mongers in Swindon that knock every hint of new development in the town.

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itsamess says...
9:50am Thu 8 Mar 12

AG
Until something like this comes to Swindon the town will continue in a downward spiral--we all hope all these things do breathe new life into a very neglected town.

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I Too says...
9:59am Thu 8 Mar 12

KeithWilliams wrote:
Whilst the article doesn't make this clear, no public money would be spent providing the ice wall it would be included in the £65m private sector investment that covers the rest of the site redevelopment.

As for it never happening. The ice wall would be nothing fancier than it needs to be. If you look at similar developments such as the one on Milton Keynes it is very much a reality.
The "doom mongering" is a result of the crass arrogance stupidity and neglect that SBC has continually demonstrated towards Swindonians.

Ironic that Swindon should be compared to Milton Keynes.
Milton Keynes has it's focus on the town centre, as opposed to outskirt retail parks.
Milton Keynes has the "grid" road system that enables traffic to disperse in all directions, even at peak times.
SBC have a policy of restricting roads such as the Whalebridge nonsense

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Robfm says...
10:31am Thu 8 Mar 12

I Too, I totally agree both about SBC and Milton Keynes, however not about the grid system, it has driven me nuts on numerous occasions.

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moonraker says...
11:20am Thu 8 Mar 12

Robfm says...
10:31am Thu 8 Mar 12

I Too, I totally agree both about SBC and Milton Keynes, however not about the grid system, it has driven me nuts on numerous occasions.

Well that must be the reason for your various ramblings on here.

Sorry Bob (above written tongue in cheek) - couldn't resist it.

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Robfm says...
11:38am Thu 8 Mar 12

moonraker, no offence taken.

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I Too says...
12:55pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Whilst working near Milton Keynes, I visited the ski dome recently and had a go at the freefall wind tunnel.

I took a couple of short videos on my phone.

Although my Flickr site is set up for aerial photos, I'll upload the videos for a while when I get back to Swindon.

In the meantime the flickr site can be found here

http://m.flickr.com/
#/photos/73970391@N0
3/sets/

Videos on soon

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Phantom Poster says...
6:08pm Thu 8 Mar 12

I Too wrote:
Whilst working near Milton Keynes, I visited the ski dome recently and had a go at the freefall wind tunnel.

I took a couple of short videos on my phone.

Although my Flickr site is set up for aerial photos, I'll upload the videos for a while when I get back to Swindon.

In the meantime the flickr site can be found here

http://m.flickr.com/

#/photos/73970391@N0

3/sets/

Videos on soon
Yes, yes, we all know that you have a Flickr page - enough already! How many times are you going to post the link on here?

If anyone want's to see Swindon photos on Flickr, then I'm sure that they will find the Swindon library collection much more interesting:

http://www.flickr.co
m/photos/swindonloca
l

I don't somehow think that people on here will be waiting with baited breath to see your Milton Keynes video! Next thing you know you'll be showing us your family's holiday photos!

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I Too says...
12:30am Fri 9 Mar 12

No just aerial photos, but I'll put the snow dome video up (just briefly) because it's relevant to this thread
(unlike your comment)

My flickr site has also been adopted by the Swindon Library Collection so thanks for the promo

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I Too says...
12:37am Fri 9 Mar 12

Probably won't get back to Swindon till Saturday.

In the meantime there is already an aerial picture of The Oasis uploaded at this link

http://m.flickr.com/
#/photos/73970391@N0
3/6790156266/in/set-
72157628887121529/

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spammer01 says...
5:16pm Fri 9 Mar 12

Always Grumpy wrote:
spammer01 wrote:
oldbutawake wrote: Another grandiose scheme that won't happen. I hate election time when politicians don't even bother to disguise that they are lying through their teeth.
i rather sit around a large table and drink maxwell house coffee then talk some sence these politicians has no sence for our country then waste tax payers money on crap
No-ones going to force you to go there! What would you want in the town?
like to see in more health centres drug walking in centres more youth workers support young offenders

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Always Grumpy says...
5:34pm Fri 9 Mar 12

Are you prepared to pay for that sort of thing? I'm certainly not!
The proposed new oasis would benefit a huge number of people in the town - far greater number than what you suggest. Anyway, as the majority of the money is from privately funded sources it should generate profits for the company involved, which would only be fair. There's no profit to be made from drug centres or young offenders. Severe punishments is the answer to their problems.

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I Too says...
8:36pm Fri 9 Mar 12

I'm not certain that the Oasis site will even be big enough.

The deal will more than likely involve a housing development.

The following link shows the area required for a ski dome

http://m.flickr.com/
#/photos/73970391@N0
3/sets/7215762918412
3578/

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