A slightly improbable combination of a library and a swimming pool, Aqualibrium is located on Kinloch Green behind the Esplanade in Campbeltown (Argyll and Bute). The £6.5 million building was opened on 16th June 2006 by First Minister Jack McConnell (b. 1960), replacing a swimming pool built in 1970 and closed in 2000, and a library built in 1899. The design was the work of Glasgow-based architects Page and Park, the result of an architectural competition organised by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. The contractors were R.J. McLeod, while Buro Happold were the consulting engineers. Aqualibrium includes a 25m (27 yard) pool, fitness gym, reading room, computer suite, creche and cafe. The pool is a suspended structure on the upper floor of the building. The name was also the result of a competition, won by Caitlin Ronald, a pupil at the local primary school.
The building meets high environmental standards, with substantial insulation, a biomass-based heating system running on locally-sourced wood chips and the collection of rain-water for flushing toilets.
