Pictures of the art on the walls surrounding the main pool in the Oasis Leisure centre show the impact of nearly four years of closure.

The centre’s de facto owner SevenCapital has put in an application for listed building consent to test the structural integrity of the concrete used in the base of the famous, and listed, dome.

As part of the application the company says it hasn’t been able to test most of the walls because of the tiles and murals on many of them – which are also protected as part of the listing of the building.

(Image: Historic Environment Consultancy)

Included in the documents is a heritage report into the art on the walls written  by Dr Peter Wardle of the Historic Environment Consultancy.

It describes the artwork and displays pictures both from when the centre was in use and more recently since its closure in late 2020.

The report says: “Shortly after the opening of the building in 1976 Swindon artist Ken White painted a mural depicting an Oasis on the curtain wall. This was later covered by sheets of plastic and plaster board at an unknown date. Subsequently the plaster board was removed revealing faint traces of the mural.

"In places the murals are better preserved. The artist was employed by Thamesdown Council to paint murals under a Job Creation Scheme. He was Richard Branson’s personal artist. He has painted over 100 murals.

“The prospective occupiers have indicated that they have no objection to the wall paintings being retained in principle. This raises a debate about how far they should be repaired, restored or conserved or reproduced or if this indeed possible.

(Image: Historic Environment Consultancy)

“The wall paintings consist of a fantasy painting of Saharan giant sand dunes which border an oasis. There are sparse plants and trees with a fauna of parakeets, a monkey and a tiger. Most of the paintings are badly damaged by the application of the membrane and water damage. They are limited to the eastern half of the dome area.”

One of the better preserved of the paintings is one of a tiger which faces those entering the pool from the changing rooms.

(Image: Historic Environment Consultancy)

But others are in much worse condition.

One panel featuring monkeys and parakeets in the foreground of a desert scene have been badly damaged by what appears to have been water running down them – and there are large chunks of the plaster on which the painting was laid missing.

(Image: Historic Environment Consultancy)

Scenes of a desert’s sand dunes – appropriate for a centre named the Oasis – are also badly affected, with pieces of the render missing most probably because of the warm wet atmosphere causing damage.

No decision has been made on the application to test the concrete supporting the dome.