engineering

Jubilee Pool

Jubilee Pool is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jubilee Pool rather than just read about it. In short: Jubilee Pool (Cornish: Poll Jubile) is an Art Deco lido in Penzance, Cornwall. It is Grade II listed, being recognised as the finest surviving example of its type with the exception of Saltdean Lido.

Key takeaways

Jubilee Pool belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jubilee Pool to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jubilee Pool from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jubilee Pool (Cornish: Poll Jubile) is an Art Deco lido in Penzance, Cornwall. It is Grade II listed, being recognised as the finest surviving example of its type with the exception of Saltdean Lido. With a capacity of 5 million litres and 600 swimmers and measuring 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, it is the UK's largest seawater pool.

History

Construction and opening The plan to build a pool in Penzance became something of a political issue, with local councillors seeing it as a choice between the pool or improving the town's water supply. One town councillor predicted the project would be "the biggest white elephant Penzance has ever had". The lido was designed between 1931 and 1934 to be built on Battery Rocks, which was already a popular bathing spot, to designs by Captain Frank Latham, the Borough Engineer of Penzance. Its design has been described as "Art Deco", "Art Nouveau-styled" and "cubist-inspired", and is reportedly influenced by the shape of a seagull in flight. It was opened on the 31 May 1935, as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for King George V. By August 1935, almost 60,000 people had visited the pool resulting in takings of nearly £700.

Use and decline The pool was damaged by the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 which hit the UK on 13 March 1962, with the lido's far wall being breached. Visitor numbers declined after the 1970s, when the popularity of lidos waned, and the pool fell into disrepair. Plans to turn the site into a leisure centre were proposed, The pool was closed in 1992, but was restored and made a listed building after the formation of the Jubilee Pool Association (later called the Friends of Jubilee Pool). The campaign gained support in Penzance, but the costs of maintenance and restoration were opposed by some local councillors from St Ives and Hayle who felt that ratepayers in their towns were being forced to pay for something that they did not use. New sea defences and a reinforced concrete lining were built in 1993 at a cost of £260,000. The funding for renovation was sourced from the local authority Penwith District Council, the UK government, and the European Union.

Revival The pool had a revival in 1994 with a 'Grand Re-opening' and Penzance-born actress Jan Harvey launching the lido's new season. The successful reopening led to calls for Tinside Lido in Plymouth to also be refurbished and reopened. The lido suffered "serious structural damage" during the winter storms in February 2014, with changing rooms and terraces being demolished and the floor of the pool being destroyed. It was repaired at a cost of £2.94m which was raised by the local community as well as with grants from the Power to Change Trust and the Coastal Communities Fund. Jubilee Pool re-opened in May 2016. In both 2016 and 2017, the lido had around 40,000 visitors. Following a £1.4m European Regional Development Fund grant, Jubilee Pool became the UK's only lido heated with geothermal energy in 2019 after a 410m deep geothermal well was drilled into the rock below the pool. In 2020, Parkdean Resorts named Jubilee Pool the UK's best lido. As of 2021, Jubilee Pool is owned by 1,400 local shareholders and is run as a social enterprise. Design writer Dominic Lutyens included Jubilee Pool in his collection of the best public swimming pools in the world in August 2022.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jubilee Pool

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jubilee Pool claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jubilee Pool before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jubilee Pool ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jubilee Pool

In research: Jubilee Pool appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jubilee Pool in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jubilee Pool is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Art Deco architecture in England, Buildings and structures completed in 1935, Buildings and structures in Penzance, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jubilee Pool outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Jubilee Pool” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Jubilee Pool in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jubilee Pool means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jubilee Pool out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jubilee Pool in simple terms?

Jubilee Pool (Cornish: Poll Jubile) is an Art Deco lido in Penzance, Cornwall. It is Grade II listed, being recognised as the finest surviving example of its type with the exception of Saltdean Lido.

Why does Jubilee Pool matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jubilee Pool?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jubilee Pool.