The BBC has shared aerial footage of swimmers taking a dip in the totally transparent, floating pool that's been built as part of luxury development Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms.
An idea that was first unveiled by developers in 2015, the Sky Pool hangs ten storeys above the ground and is believed to be a (drumroll) World First. Building work on it was completed early this year, but temperatures have only just climbed high enough to make it a popular spot for residents of the block.
Swimmers enjoy warm weather in London at the Sky Pool which is believed to be the world’s first transparent pool built between two skyscrapers
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 1, 2021
https://t.co/mtRX8qvt0a pic.twitter.com/2skTGK9Jp7
The pool/viewing point is not only an idyllic-looking splish-splash zone, it's also an extremely useful visual metaphor for London's class divide. Only full owners of the high-end flats at Nine Elms have access to look down on the rest of us from the glass-walled space. So you can look but you cannot swim. It's sort of normal that the public isn't welcome (although it's weird to be able to see a pool you can't use) but it's scandalous that even people who've actually bought flats in the block via the government's shared ownership scheme don't have access.
A Guardian report from February stated that less wealthy residents could see the pool from their flats but couldn't swim in it. It also reported that shared ownership buyers had to use a different shabbier entrance to the plush lobby available for full purchase buyers and didn't have access to other facilities. They couldn't even pay to use them.
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