After 25 years of intensive use, the VUB swimming pool has been closed for renovations: it uses too much energy, the technical systems are approaching the end of their useful lives and the swimming pool's structure is starting to show its age. The swimming pool is scheduled to reopen in the autumn of 2017. Some alternatives are listed below in the meantime.
Adjustable floor
The new swimming pool – with a price tag of 8 million Euros – will be comprised of a 25m main pool and a 13m teaching pool with adjustable floor. It will also be fitted with four large locker rooms, four family locker rooms and 30 individual locker rooms.
This is not so much renovation as it is innovation.
Current Rector Paul De Knop commissioned this new swimming pool which is intended to be the University's response to a shortage of bathing facilities in Brussels.
The University is also glad to share its knowledge and know-how about safety and learning to swim. This is why the faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy is starting up a swimming school headed by Prof. Dr. Kristine De Martelaer.
Although the closure is only temporary, the swimming pool will be missed. Not just by the students and staff of the VUB, but also by primary schools, secondary schools and individuals. People have been swimming, diving and even kayaking in this ideal location practicing affordable rates for many long years. The VUB swimming pool has also heard the laughter of countless children during sports camps, and the cries of supporters echoing throughout the pool during water polo competitions and student games.
Off campus alternatives
- The Sports Centre in Etterbeek is a possible alternative for swimming: a 25m swimming pool, a large paddling pool and a small pool with a water slide.
- The swimming pool in Ixelles is the oldest indoor swimming pool in the Brussels region. It celebrated its centenary on 16 May 2004 and it is part of the borough's architectural heritage. The pool is 29.20 meters long.
- A third possibility for diving into the water is the Calypso 200 swimming pool in Watermael-Boitsfort.
Other sports on campus
Those who prefer to stay on campus for their sporting activities will find many other sports facilities open during the swimming pool innovation works.
Through the successful SportM!x formula,the Brussels University Association offers a wide variety of sports activities that you can take part in alone or with an instructor every week. Most sportmix activities are free to all sportknip holders. To participate in your favourite sport for one academic year, you just need to preload your sports card – against payment - with a sportknip. The sportmix activities are only available during the academic course weeks (26 weeks/year). Sportmix activities can be found on the Etterbeek campus, on the Jette campus, and in a number of other locations in the centre of Brussels.