Stade Aquatique, Swimming center in Bellerive-sur-Allier, France
The Stade aquatique Léon-Marchand is a swimming complex on chemin des Chabannes-Basses in Bellerive-sur-Allier, designed by architect Jacques Rougerie. It holds six stainless-steel pools: a 25 × 21 m indoor sports pool, a 50 × 21 m outdoor pool kept at 28 °C, a covered leisure pool with slide (31 °C, 300 m²), a 190 m² teaching pool, a paddling pool and a fitness area. Capacity exceeds a thousand people.
Plans for the pool were drawn by architect Jacques Rougerie after the old stade nautique closed, judged outdated following a December 2003 flood of the Allier. Work began on 22 August 2006 with the first stone laid on 10 October, and the facility was inaugurated on 2 February 2008 before 700 people, costing €22,630,000. It opened to the public on 21 March 2008 and took the name Léon-Marchand on 1 August 2026.
Six clubs are based here, including VVA Natation, Vichy Triathlon, a lifesaving club, a diving club and a handisport club. VVA Natation was the second-largest club in the former Auvergne region by membership in 2013. Swimming schools teach adults, children and babies from six months, and a family water garden opens on Sunday mornings.
The aquatic stadium is on chemin des Chabannes-Basses, west of Bellerive-sur-Allier, near the route de Gannat (RD 2209). MobiVie lines C and I serve it Monday to Saturday, line B on Sundays and public holidays, and a seven-space park-and-ride lot sits behind the bus stop. A shared path links the site to the pont de Bellerive.
The 50 × 21 m outdoor pool is kept at 28 °C, while the covered leisure pool with slide is held at 31 °C. The complex holds six stainless-steel pools in all, plus a paddling pool and a fitness area, and can take more than a thousand people.
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