Spa on the Breck

Spa on the Breck, the new spa designed by DaleSauna for Wyre Council, has officially launched in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

Working for contractor ISG, our brief for the sauna and steam specialists was to create a modern spa with the wow factor that clients could use on a daily basis.

The new spa is situated inside the transformed YMCA Poulton Health and Fitness Centre, owned by Wyre Council and operated in partnership with YMCA. As the only spa of its kind in the area, the holistic retreat offers a range of thermal experiences designed to relax and revitalize. We supplied and installed a 3m spa pool, pine sauna, tiled steam room, tiled aromatherapy room, tiled salt room, two monsoon showers, an ice feature and tiled, heated benches.

The design of the spa has been influenced by its thermal experiences with warm, earthy tones used for the aromatherapy room and the relaxation bench area. Bolder colours, with an emphasis on blue, grey and monochrome hues that suggest a sense of drama, have been employed for features with more extreme temperatures such as the ice feature, salt room and steam room.

“To be successful, the spa has to serve a wide spectrum of the public and have a high turnover of clients, so it’s imperative that the finishes are hardwearing, easy to maintain but don’t compromise on aesthetics and style,” says Lynn Russell-Hanson, interior designer at DaleSauna.

The salt room features strong blue light from seven LED down lighters to strengthen the fresh bracing effect of the salt spray from the steam injection system. Walls are covered in a large format gloss finish glazed biscuit ceramic tile. The ‘cubic’ textured finish of this tile surface suggests a tiny square mosaic but has none of the disadvantages of multiple grout lines that accompany small mosaics.

A mid-grey rectangular mosaic covers the profile bench seating. This tile has a high gloss finish and also gives sufficient (minimum 30-point) colour difference with the white wall, as recommended for users with challenged eyesight to distinguish between horizontal and vertical surfaces. The cubic wall tile and rectangular mosaic echo the square and cubed geometry of a salt crystal.

Warm earth tones were the guide for the aromatherapy room with a broken texture on some tiles that resembled rough stone. Extra interest was added on the profiled bench seating with embossed, glass mosaic in warm terracotta hue with an iridescent finish. A 100-point fibre optic ‘twinkle’ lighting system was placed inside a coffered ceiling and a colour-change wheel allows colours to slowly change through a timed cycle.

Located in the middle of the spa and directly between both colour zones, the sauna is lit with powerful red LED down lighters to emphasise the natural warmth of the wood, while still giving a sense of drama.

Clients can take advantage of all of the thermal experiences as part of the Spa Journey, which is priced at £15 for two hours. The spa also offers a selection of pamper days, spa gifts, party and hire packages.

The luxurious new spa facilities at Spa on the Breck mark the completion of the first phase of Wyre Council’s ambitious £5.1m plans to reinvent leisure in Wyre.