Permission is being sought to hit the legally protected walls of the dome of the Oasis leisure centre with a hammer to see if the plaster and concrete falls off.

An application has been submitted by planning consultant Carney Sweeney, on the instruction of the de facto owners of the Oasis, SevenCapital, to be able to test the integrity of the structure of the reinforced concrete of the dome over the main swimming pool.

The structure is listed, and a special permission is needed for the work.

The application is for permission for: “collection of samples to analyse the extent of the reinforced concrete frame”.

But the details show that, initially, it’s not quite as technical as it might seem.

The application says testing can’t be carried out on panels of the dome which are either painted or tiled, as those finishes are part of the listing and therefore protected.

On plain panels, workers would carry  hammer testing, which is described as: “a low-tech procedure involving impacting the surface of the reinforced concrete to identify areas where the concrete has become delaminated (i.e. no longer integral / suitably bonded to the main body of the concrete) or spalled (i.e. completely detached from the main body of the concrete but held in place either by the finishes or friction).”

Areas where concrete falls off under the hammer blow will be marked as needing some further inspection and work.

The company says the testing is needed because an initial, limited inspection shows the concrete supporting the dome may be in poor condition.

Its application adds: “To date the extent of concrete substrate to the perimeter bays available for inspection has been limited to a small area at ground floor.

“The concrete wall viewed showed signs of significant corrosion of reinforcing bars which has resulted in expansion of the metal, in turn causing the concrete surface to become delaminated (detached from the main concrete wall).

“In several places the concrete surface has previously fallen away causing the reinforcing bars to become exposed.

“Due to the conditions observed it is considered possible that other bays may have been subject to similar corrosion, with the delaminated concrete being held in place by the applied finishes.”

The Oasis has been closed since the late autumn lockdown of 2020, when operator Better said it could no longer make enough of a profit running it.

A full planning application is expected for the refurbishment of the listed building to be able to bring it back into use, with a target opening date of 2026.