A new waterpark is in development next to a historic site in Coventry, UK, featuring numerous rides supplied by Polin Waterparks, including the Tunnel Bodyslide family attraction, Sphere-Space Shuttle Combo raft ride and the high-thrill Space Hole.

Set to open in late 2018 or early 2019, the as-yet-unnamed waterpark is located within mere yards of an 800-year-old church tower and spire.

FaulknerBrowns Architects fulfilled the requirements of the historic £36.7m ($41m) project.

The firm has designed many innovative and award-winning buildings, including Derby Arena, a velodrome for the Pan Am games in Toronto, the canoeing and sailing centres for London’s Olympics in 2012 and an Olympic-standard aquatics centre in Dubai.

Other key contributors to the project include the main supplier and construction firm, Buckingham Group Contracting, and consultant Neuman Aqua.

The new facility will also feature a 25-metre swimming pool, a gym, a climbing wall, squash courts, a dance studio, a day spa and administrative area.

Providing such a wide range of amenities within a limited space meant going up – three stories up, stacking the building’s offerings into a multi-level structure.

Discussing the project, Bilge Pakis, design manager at Polin Waterparks, said: “It is a game-changer in its distinctive design, required to fit the facility into a very tight footprint on a site where Franciscan monks originally constructed a cruciform-shaped church in the early 1200s.”

Zeynep Canbaz, senior architect for the Turkey-based supplier, added: “The floorplan ultimately put the waterslides on the third floor – an especially unusual proposal

“That meant Polin needed to specially adapt its rides to fit within the specific limitations of the building’s mostly round layout and its constricting ceiling height.

“It wasn’t an easy design, but it was incredibly fun to work on. It was challenging yet exciting to see the puzzle pieces of the slides match the required size needs and, finally, fit perfectly within the restrictions of the facility.”