UK’s first floating padel courts set to be built in Liverpool

Plans have been put forward for three floating padel courts as part of the Liverpool Waters regeneration project.

Author

Jonathan Dyson
February 13, 2025

Plans have been submitted this week to Liverpool City Council to create the UK’s first floating padel courts and floating club house in the city.

The proposed site forms part of Liverpool Waters, a regeneration project in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool spanning 2.3km of the city’s waterfront, featuring Everton Football Club’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, a new Isle of Man Ferry terminal, and 600 new homes.

The proposed padel facility will sit within Princes Dock and will feature three floating padel courts. The courts will be built on a special floating padel platform from Finland, with the courts themselves manufactured in Spain.

Players and spectators will be able to socialise in a new floating clubhouse which is also included within the plans. The clubhouse will be designed by the award-winning architecture and design firm Imagineering Global LLP, which specialises in large-scale leisure design projects, themed leisure attractions, and retail entertainment solutions.

A decision on the plans is expected in spring 2025, with an anticipated opening date in late summer 2025. Image credit: Liverpool Waters.

Liverpool Waters said the “natural, Scandinavian influenced aesthetic of the floating clubhouse will complement the surroundings and neighbouring leisure facilities also based within Princes Dock, which includes Wyld Sauna, the UK’s first public floating sauna.”

It added: “A bar and kitchen have also been included in the clubhouse designs, with a decked seating area offering views across the dock and providing the perfect social spot for post-padel sunrise coffee or sunset beers to round off the day.”

A small specialist retail store selling padel racquets, balls, clothing and shoes will also be located within the clubhouse. The floating infrastructure under the clubhouse will be designed and built by Bluet Floating Solutions.

To build the new floating padel courts, Peel Waters, the company overseeing the entire Liverpool Waters project, has partnered with a team of international experts. The waterside regeneration specialist will be working with Ville Leisti, the Finnish founder and CEO of Floating Padel, Tytti Sirola, CEO of Bluet Floating Solutions, Gareth Evans, managing director of Cheshire-based Padel Ventures, and Paul Danson, founder of Imagineering Global.

A decision on the plans submitted to Liverpool City Council is expected in spring 2025, with an anticipated opening date in late summer 2025.

If the project gets the go-ahead, Liverpool will join other cities including Dubai, Miami and Helsinki to have their own floating padel courts.