The work is almost finished at the Piol swimming pool in Nice, we went to see what had changed

We'll be diving back into the Piol swimming pool in a few days. Since March, the oldest pool in the city (it dates back to 1900) but also the most historically significant, the one where many Nice residents learned to swim, has been under construction. It's closed to the public for a good cause. Many improvements have been made, while others remain to be finalized.

It took four and a half months of work, visited on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 by the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, and his team, to restore several installations, including the floors and structures located under the pool. "We had to consolidate everything," explains Pascal Condomitti, deputy delegate for Sport. Concretely, we restored the technical gallery under the beaches, between the large pool (25x20m) and the small pool (20x6m). The reinforced concrete structure was damaged, so the workers demolished and completely rebuilt the raft, that is to say the load-bearing slab, the posts, the cover slab. The waterproofing was reviewed before the tiling.

This was followed by the painting of the facades, the modernization of the lighting system of the small pool, and the creation of a new stand.

More open to local residents

Not everything is finished. All the utilities in the technical gallery still need to be replaced, the kitchen and entrance hall renovations completed, the large pool lighting installed, the tiles installed for the small pool's earthenware areas installed, a blind installed, and aluminum joinery installed on the grandstand installed.

This project, led by the municipal buildings department and the sports department, cost €600,000. The investment is significant, but its promise pleases the mayor of Nice: "The Piol swimming pool was already renovated in 1985 and 2008. There, we considered making a longer pool, but that was at the expense of the smaller pool, which would have had to be demolished. So we kept both pools, especially since the larger one, even with its current dimensions, is approved for competitions."

Competition, certainly, since the ONN clubs, Nicea Waterpolo, La Semeuse, and Team Nissa Triathlon train their swimmers in the lanes. But the Piol pool also aims to be a rallying point in the neighborhood. Here again, Christian Estrosi is pleased: "A rapprochement between the clubs, including the ONN and the Pessicart-Cyrnos-Le Piol-Mantega-Righi neighborhood committee, is underway to find schedules and allow local residents to more easily access the lanes and learn to swim."

Upon reopening to the public on July 15, the pool will be open seven days a week, year-round. This summer, it will operate from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. 54 hours will be reserved for the general public, 32.5 hours for clubs, and 40 hours for schools.