High life: Swimming 35 meters up in the air

Eco World Ballymore

Real estate developers in London are planning to offer super-rich residents a chance to swim between two apartment blocks – 35 meters up in the air.

Eco World Ballymore has revealed designs for a 35 metre high, 25 metre long transparent outdoor swimming pool that will link two 10-floor residential blocks.

Eco World Ballymore

Designed by architects Arup Associates with input from aquarium designers Reynolds and engineers Eckersley O'Callaghan, the 'Sky Pool' – which will be five metres wide and have a water depth of 1.2 metres – will be part of the Embassy Gardens development in Nine Elms, in the south of the city.

Ballymore said in a release that residents would be able to "swim from one building to the next", with a sky deck at the top of the buildings offering sweeping views of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, two iconic London landmarks.

The apartments have been reported in the media as on sale for just over £600,000 ($940,000). A real estate agents' website lists a studio apartment in the complex at £520,000.

"My vision for the Sky Pool stemmed from a desire to push the boundaries in the capability of construction and engineering, I wanted to do something that had never been done before," Sean Mulryan, Ballymore's chairman and CEO, said in a release.

"At Ballymore we like to push the boundaries on all aspects of design, (and) the Sky Pool's transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade," Mulryan added.

"The experience of the pool will be truly unique, it will feel like floating through the air in central London."

                     

Ballymore are developing Embassy Gardens in conjunction with development partners Eco World. They are developing the second phase of the project – which will be released to market in September – together, as Eco World Ballymore.

The Nine Elms development is vast. In addition to Embassy Gardens – which will see 2,000 new homes built along with restaurants, bars and landscaped gardens – the new U.S. Embassy will be located there too.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has previously described the Nine Elms project as, "the greatest transformational story in the world's greatest city."