With forthcoming resorts
in Toronto, Manchester and
Glasgow set to feature
next generation waterparks,
immersive art, vertical farms
and a fresh approach to
wellbeing, Therme Group is
thinking big. Magali Robathan
speaks to the group’s UK
chief development officer
Land joined Therme Group UK in 2017. He became CDO in 2020 / Therme Group
Therme Group’s wellbeing resort concept, originally seen in Germany and now being taken worldwide, was born from a strong belief that wellbeing should be accessible for everyone, and that thermal facilities should be about fun and leisure as well as relaxation.
Therme Group’s wellbeing resorts have been described as waterparks, water theme parks and thermal spas, but the truth is they combine all of those elements – with forthcoming resorts also set to feature vertical farms, immersive art installations, health and fitness and innovative technology – to create a new genre of attraction.
“At a basic level, we all connect with water; we find it incredibly calming to be in and around,” says Richard Land, Therme Group UK’s chief development officer. “Whether it’s children playing or adults bathing, there’s been lots of research showing the significant wellness benefits that come from these activities. We’re looking to bring all of that together and create amazing environments where people can enjoy and connect to water.”
The Group currently has four resorts – three in Germany and one in Romania – and is working on new projects across the world, with resorts underway in Toronto, Canada and Manchester, UK and plans outlined for four more in the UK and further destinations across the US, Asia and Europe.
As we speak, the Group has just announced plans for its second UK wellbeing destination, on the waterfront in Glasgow, Scotland.
“We’re creating urban oases, where we bring together fun and relaxation to nurture mental and physical health,” explains Land, speaking to me from Glasgow. “We’re looking to embed ourselves in communities; to be a catalyst for greener, healthier, more liveable cities and provide wellbeing for all.”
ONTARIO PLACE, CANADA In Toronto, Canada, Therme Group is developing a family-friendly attraction featuring indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides and a wave pool, natural relaxation spaces, sports performance and recovery services, and botanical gardens.
The future of the Ontario Place site – which was built for the 1967 Montreal Expo – has been a topic of debate since the Ontario Place theme park closed down in 2012. The masterplan for the new resort, designed by Diamond Schmitt in partnership with Therme Group’s in-house design team Therme ARC, aims to reconnect the public to Lake Ontario. The glass and steel main building will be clad in energy-efficient, triple layer, bird-friendly glass on a steel structure and will house the aquatic pools and botanical gardens. The building will be surrounded by parklands and beach areas.
A new bridge will connect the mainland and West Island, providing public access to the island park and a new public beach. As part of the group’s mission to bring immersive art to the public outside of traditional spaces such as museums and galleries, the Therme Entrance Pavilion will host a series of site-specific art installations by local artists.
“What’s special about Ontario Place is that it really brings back the connection to the waterfront,” says Land. “Part of the concept is to bring together the public realm – there will be walkways around it so people can come and walk and feel the building is part of their space without necessarily paying to enter.”
THERME MANCHESTER In Manchester, UK, the £250m+ Therme Manchester destination is taking shape. Due to open in 2023, on a site owned by Peel L&P, the huge 28-acre attraction will feature a family zone with indoor and outdoor swimming pools including a wave pool, water slides, steamrooms and palm tree relaxation areas. The venue will also feature a dedicated adults’ area with swim up bars, therapeutic mineral baths, warm-water lagoons set in botanical gardens and steam rooms and saunas.
Other features include a two acre wellbeing garden in the shape of a rose, a range of bars, cafes and restaurants, and vertical gardens which will grow salad and herbs for the restaurants.
As with Therme’s other projects, art will play a central role in Manchester.
“Art is one of the many new features we’re bringing into our facilities,” says Land. “Artists love the idea of their work being immersive and people spending time in their art without the constraints of traditional galleries, and we hope it will encourage dialogue and discussion.
“We have several projects running with various artists – one that we’ve already done was with Jeppe Hein – he’s an amazing artist who ran a large-scale public participatory artwork in Central Park in New York called Breathe With Me. He adapted that for schools around Manchester, which enabled us to reach out to them and engage local students. It encouraged the students to create art by focusing on their breathing, which helped them to relax. The artwork created will be made into tiles which will go into Therme Manchester. That brings the community with us and gives them something to relate to when they come.
“We have lots of other ideas and collaborations which we’ll use in the design – they’ll create a rich tapestry of colour and experiences that will make us unique.”
WORLDWIDE EXPANSION Over the past two years, the Group has announced plans to expand around the world. A regional division has been set up in the US, and plans have been outlined to introduce urban wellbeing centres to five US cities, likely to include New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Co-founder of New York’s High Line, Robert Hammond, has been appointed as president and chief strategy officer for Therme Group’s US expansion plans.
“We’ve now got a very strong team in the US, who are making good ground quite quickly. North America is a huge market, and is key to us,” says Land.
“We’ve also been open about the fact we’re looking at Asia as well, and we have a good pipeline of many very well progressed discussions around the world.
“We’re looking at urban destinations, as people will continue to move towards cities and they will become mega cities of the future. We’re looking to see how we can embed ourselves within those cities to create spaces of wellbeing where you can focus on that pre-emptive health element and support the cities in providing a wellbeing and health offer.”
How many Therme resorts would they like to open globally? I ask Lund.
“Who knows?” he replies. “We’re not really constrained by fixed targets and timelines. We’re able to adapt when opportunities arise. We’re quite specific about what we’re looking for – we don’t want to be 20 miles out of town in a field, we really need to be embedded within the cities we’re in. That depends on what land’s available, and how open the authorities are to working with us. We really feel the time is right to be creating these kinds of wellbeing spaces.”
In the UK, in addition to Manchester and Glasgow, the group has announced it’s looking at sites in Wales and London. In November 2021, it was announced that Therme Group had signed a deal with Peel L&P to construct a resort on the 21.5 acre Glasgow Waters site next to Glasgow’s Riverside Museum. The resort – set to be the group’s second in the UK – will feature a next-generation waterpark, thermal pools and spa, a health and wellbeing centre and a vertical farm.
A CATEGORY OF ITS OWN With Therme Group resorts described variously as ‘wellbeing destinations’ ‘waterparks and spa resorts,’ ‘wellness centres’ and ‘wellness theme parks,’ I ask Land how Therme Group would describe its own facilities.
“We’ve discussed our elevator pitch, but because we’re so complex, it’s hard to sum up in one simple sentence,” he acknowledges. “That’s part of our challenge – helping people to understand what we’re about. It’s a new concept – kind of a new market. It’s about leisure and spas, but we’re more than all of that – we have our own category. It’s actually quite nice that people will have a sense of reveal once we open our new facilities.
“Basically our resorts are places where people can come, and whatever wellbeing means for them, they can find it within our facilities – whether that’s relaxing in a spa or sauna, enjoying the waterslides, having a treatment, or having good, nutritious food. There’s something for everyone.
“It comes back to mixing fun with relaxation, and being affordable and accessible from a wellbeing perspective.”
THERME GROUP PROJECTS
• BADEPARADIES SCHWARZWALD TITISEE, GERMANY
This resort opened in 2010 in Germany’s Black Forest in collaboration with Wund Holding – the leisure operator credited with revolutionising Germany’s thermal resort sector. It features a family zone with 25 water attractions, a relaxation area and a ‘sauna world’ with 12 themed sauna pools, mineral pools and whirlpools.
• THERMEN & BADEWELT SINSHEIM, GERMANY
Opened 2012
• THERME EUSKIRCHEN, GERMANY
Opened in 2015
• THERME BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
The first Therme Group resort outside Germany, this facility marked the start of the group’s global ambitions when it opened in 2016. The 30,000sq m facility has LEED Platinum certification and features a wide range of water-based activities and treatments.
FUTURE THERME PROJECTS
• BAD VILBEL, FRANKFURT-RHEIN-MAIN, GERMANY
Therme Group’s strategic partner Wund Holding, operating as ThermenGruppe Josef Wund, has unveiled plans for the creation of Germany’s largest wellbeing resort in Bad Vilbel, part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main metropolitan area. It will be built to LEED Platinum Standard and will feature a family area with more than 30 waterslides, expansive thermal and mineral pools, relaxation areas and more than 1,800 palm trees.
• THERME MANCHESTER, UK
Therme Manchester, the UK’s first city-based wellbeing resort, will combine hundreds of water-based activities with wellbeing treatments, art, nature and technology. Created by Therme Group, Therme Manchester will be located in Peel L&P’s Trafford City.
• THERME CANADA ONTARIO PLACE, CANADA
Designed by Diamond Schmitt and Therme Group’s in-house design team, this resort will be located in Ontario Place and aims to reconnect residents of Toronto to the waterfront. It will feature a range of pools and waterslides, as well as nature-inspired relaxation spaces and botanical gardens and will offer treatments, as well as sports performance and recovery services.
• THERME SCOTLAND, UK
In November 2021, Therme Group announced it had inked a deal with Peel L&P for a new location in Glasgow called Therme Scotland.
Therme has announced it aims to submit planning permission to Glasgow City Council in 2022 for the 320,000sq ft facility which will be home to extensive thermal pools and spa, a health and wellbeing centre and an indoor water park. The organisation anticipates the project will cost roughly £100m (€118.2m, US$134.3m) to create.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 4
Editor's letter: Eco drivers
Therme Group and The Eden Project are going global, on an environmental mission says Magali Robathan
AM People: Julia Baird
On why her brother John Lennon would have loved the Strawberry Field attraction and the work it’s doing for the local community
AM People: Åsa Caap
The thrill of opening the Space Stockholm digital culture centre
Interview: David Harland & Sir Tim Smit
With projects underway around the world, the Eden Project is going global with its call to arms for the future of the planet
Museums: Getting creative
How the Young V&A will aim to provide children with the creative tools stripped out by the pandemic
Interview: Richard Land
Mixing waterslides with wellbeing, the Therme Group is creating a category all of its own while taking on the world, says the group’s chief development officer
Museums: Kunsthaus Zurich completes
A David Chipperfield extension has more than doubled the museum’s exhibition space, making Zurich a major destination for the arts
Interview: Julien Kauffmann
As Farah Experiences prepares to open SeaWorld Abu Dubai, its CEO talks COVID-19, branding and branching with David Camp
Research: Making pre-booking work
Attractions are benefiting from the switch to pre-booking, but must cater for spontaneous, disorganised visitors too, says Jon Young
Research: All creatures great and small
Zoo enrichment and research can’t just be focused on the large animals most popular with visitors, argues Dr Paul Rose. All must be represented
Research: Popularity game
Research on zoo animals focuses more on ‘familiar’ species such as gorillas and chimpanzees, rather than less well known ones such as the waxy monkey frog, scientists say
Analysis: Light in the dark
A successful winter light show can see margins upwards of 30 per cent. Kathleen LaClair and
Yael Coifman look at some of the operators getting it right
Museums: Munch Museum opens in Norway
The iconic new attraction has opened on Oslo’s waterfront with the world’s largest collection of works by Edvard Munch
Mystery Shopper: Galleries & Gourds
It has transformed the sleepy town of Bruton, UK, but does Hauser & Wirth Somerset live up to the hype? Magali Robathan mystery shops to find out
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
With forthcoming resorts
in Toronto, Manchester and
Glasgow set to feature
next generation waterparks,
immersive art, vertical farms
and a fresh approach to
wellbeing, Therme Group is
thinking big. Magali Robathan
speaks to the group’s UK
chief development officer
Land joined Therme Group UK in 2017. He became CDO in 2020 / Therme Group
Therme Group’s wellbeing resort concept, originally seen in Germany and now being taken worldwide, was born from a strong belief that wellbeing should be accessible for everyone, and that thermal facilities should be about fun and leisure as well as relaxation.
Therme Group’s wellbeing resorts have been described as waterparks, water theme parks and thermal spas, but the truth is they combine all of those elements – with forthcoming resorts also set to feature vertical farms, immersive art installations, health and fitness and innovative technology – to create a new genre of attraction.
“At a basic level, we all connect with water; we find it incredibly calming to be in and around,” says Richard Land, Therme Group UK’s chief development officer. “Whether it’s children playing or adults bathing, there’s been lots of research showing the significant wellness benefits that come from these activities. We’re looking to bring all of that together and create amazing environments where people can enjoy and connect to water.”
The Group currently has four resorts – three in Germany and one in Romania – and is working on new projects across the world, with resorts underway in Toronto, Canada and Manchester, UK and plans outlined for four more in the UK and further destinations across the US, Asia and Europe.
As we speak, the Group has just announced plans for its second UK wellbeing destination, on the waterfront in Glasgow, Scotland.
“We’re creating urban oases, where we bring together fun and relaxation to nurture mental and physical health,” explains Land, speaking to me from Glasgow. “We’re looking to embed ourselves in communities; to be a catalyst for greener, healthier, more liveable cities and provide wellbeing for all.”
ONTARIO PLACE, CANADA In Toronto, Canada, Therme Group is developing a family-friendly attraction featuring indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides and a wave pool, natural relaxation spaces, sports performance and recovery services, and botanical gardens.
The future of the Ontario Place site – which was built for the 1967 Montreal Expo – has been a topic of debate since the Ontario Place theme park closed down in 2012. The masterplan for the new resort, designed by Diamond Schmitt in partnership with Therme Group’s in-house design team Therme ARC, aims to reconnect the public to Lake Ontario. The glass and steel main building will be clad in energy-efficient, triple layer, bird-friendly glass on a steel structure and will house the aquatic pools and botanical gardens. The building will be surrounded by parklands and beach areas.
A new bridge will connect the mainland and West Island, providing public access to the island park and a new public beach. As part of the group’s mission to bring immersive art to the public outside of traditional spaces such as museums and galleries, the Therme Entrance Pavilion will host a series of site-specific art installations by local artists.
“What’s special about Ontario Place is that it really brings back the connection to the waterfront,” says Land. “Part of the concept is to bring together the public realm – there will be walkways around it so people can come and walk and feel the building is part of their space without necessarily paying to enter.”
THERME MANCHESTER In Manchester, UK, the £250m+ Therme Manchester destination is taking shape. Due to open in 2023, on a site owned by Peel L&P, the huge 28-acre attraction will feature a family zone with indoor and outdoor swimming pools including a wave pool, water slides, steamrooms and palm tree relaxation areas. The venue will also feature a dedicated adults’ area with swim up bars, therapeutic mineral baths, warm-water lagoons set in botanical gardens and steam rooms and saunas.
Other features include a two acre wellbeing garden in the shape of a rose, a range of bars, cafes and restaurants, and vertical gardens which will grow salad and herbs for the restaurants.
As with Therme’s other projects, art will play a central role in Manchester.
“Art is one of the many new features we’re bringing into our facilities,” says Land. “Artists love the idea of their work being immersive and people spending time in their art without the constraints of traditional galleries, and we hope it will encourage dialogue and discussion.
“We have several projects running with various artists – one that we’ve already done was with Jeppe Hein – he’s an amazing artist who ran a large-scale public participatory artwork in Central Park in New York called Breathe With Me. He adapted that for schools around Manchester, which enabled us to reach out to them and engage local students. It encouraged the students to create art by focusing on their breathing, which helped them to relax. The artwork created will be made into tiles which will go into Therme Manchester. That brings the community with us and gives them something to relate to when they come.
“We have lots of other ideas and collaborations which we’ll use in the design – they’ll create a rich tapestry of colour and experiences that will make us unique.”
WORLDWIDE EXPANSION Over the past two years, the Group has announced plans to expand around the world. A regional division has been set up in the US, and plans have been outlined to introduce urban wellbeing centres to five US cities, likely to include New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Co-founder of New York’s High Line, Robert Hammond, has been appointed as president and chief strategy officer for Therme Group’s US expansion plans.
“We’ve now got a very strong team in the US, who are making good ground quite quickly. North America is a huge market, and is key to us,” says Land.
“We’ve also been open about the fact we’re looking at Asia as well, and we have a good pipeline of many very well progressed discussions around the world.
“We’re looking at urban destinations, as people will continue to move towards cities and they will become mega cities of the future. We’re looking to see how we can embed ourselves within those cities to create spaces of wellbeing where you can focus on that pre-emptive health element and support the cities in providing a wellbeing and health offer.”
How many Therme resorts would they like to open globally? I ask Lund.
“Who knows?” he replies. “We’re not really constrained by fixed targets and timelines. We’re able to adapt when opportunities arise. We’re quite specific about what we’re looking for – we don’t want to be 20 miles out of town in a field, we really need to be embedded within the cities we’re in. That depends on what land’s available, and how open the authorities are to working with us. We really feel the time is right to be creating these kinds of wellbeing spaces.”
In the UK, in addition to Manchester and Glasgow, the group has announced it’s looking at sites in Wales and London. In November 2021, it was announced that Therme Group had signed a deal with Peel L&P to construct a resort on the 21.5 acre Glasgow Waters site next to Glasgow’s Riverside Museum. The resort – set to be the group’s second in the UK – will feature a next-generation waterpark, thermal pools and spa, a health and wellbeing centre and a vertical farm.
A CATEGORY OF ITS OWN With Therme Group resorts described variously as ‘wellbeing destinations’ ‘waterparks and spa resorts,’ ‘wellness centres’ and ‘wellness theme parks,’ I ask Land how Therme Group would describe its own facilities.
“We’ve discussed our elevator pitch, but because we’re so complex, it’s hard to sum up in one simple sentence,” he acknowledges. “That’s part of our challenge – helping people to understand what we’re about. It’s a new concept – kind of a new market. It’s about leisure and spas, but we’re more than all of that – we have our own category. It’s actually quite nice that people will have a sense of reveal once we open our new facilities.
“Basically our resorts are places where people can come, and whatever wellbeing means for them, they can find it within our facilities – whether that’s relaxing in a spa or sauna, enjoying the waterslides, having a treatment, or having good, nutritious food. There’s something for everyone.
“It comes back to mixing fun with relaxation, and being affordable and accessible from a wellbeing perspective.”
THERME GROUP PROJECTS
• BADEPARADIES SCHWARZWALD TITISEE, GERMANY
This resort opened in 2010 in Germany’s Black Forest in collaboration with Wund Holding – the leisure operator credited with revolutionising Germany’s thermal resort sector. It features a family zone with 25 water attractions, a relaxation area and a ‘sauna world’ with 12 themed sauna pools, mineral pools and whirlpools.
• THERMEN & BADEWELT SINSHEIM, GERMANY
Opened 2012
• THERME EUSKIRCHEN, GERMANY
Opened in 2015
• THERME BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
The first Therme Group resort outside Germany, this facility marked the start of the group’s global ambitions when it opened in 2016. The 30,000sq m facility has LEED Platinum certification and features a wide range of water-based activities and treatments.
FUTURE THERME PROJECTS
• BAD VILBEL, FRANKFURT-RHEIN-MAIN, GERMANY
Therme Group’s strategic partner Wund Holding, operating as ThermenGruppe Josef Wund, has unveiled plans for the creation of Germany’s largest wellbeing resort in Bad Vilbel, part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main metropolitan area. It will be built to LEED Platinum Standard and will feature a family area with more than 30 waterslides, expansive thermal and mineral pools, relaxation areas and more than 1,800 palm trees.
• THERME MANCHESTER, UK
Therme Manchester, the UK’s first city-based wellbeing resort, will combine hundreds of water-based activities with wellbeing treatments, art, nature and technology. Created by Therme Group, Therme Manchester will be located in Peel L&P’s Trafford City.
• THERME CANADA ONTARIO PLACE, CANADA
Designed by Diamond Schmitt and Therme Group’s in-house design team, this resort will be located in Ontario Place and aims to reconnect residents of Toronto to the waterfront. It will feature a range of pools and waterslides, as well as nature-inspired relaxation spaces and botanical gardens and will offer treatments, as well as sports performance and recovery services.
• THERME SCOTLAND, UK
In November 2021, Therme Group announced it had inked a deal with Peel L&P for a new location in Glasgow called Therme Scotland.
Therme has announced it aims to submit planning permission to Glasgow City Council in 2022 for the 320,000sq ft facility which will be home to extensive thermal pools and spa, a health and wellbeing centre and an indoor water park. The organisation anticipates the project will cost roughly £100m (€118.2m, US$134.3m) to create.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 4
Editor's letter: Eco drivers
Therme Group and The Eden Project are going global, on an environmental mission says Magali Robathan
AM People: Julia Baird
On why her brother John Lennon would have loved the Strawberry Field attraction and the work it’s doing for the local community
AM People: Åsa Caap
The thrill of opening the Space Stockholm digital culture centre
Interview: David Harland & Sir Tim Smit
With projects underway around the world, the Eden Project is going global with its call to arms for the future of the planet
Museums: Getting creative
How the Young V&A will aim to provide children with the creative tools stripped out by the pandemic
Interview: Richard Land
Mixing waterslides with wellbeing, the Therme Group is creating a category all of its own while taking on the world, says the group’s chief development officer
Museums: Kunsthaus Zurich completes
A David Chipperfield extension has more than doubled the museum’s exhibition space, making Zurich a major destination for the arts
Interview: Julien Kauffmann
As Farah Experiences prepares to open SeaWorld Abu Dubai, its CEO talks COVID-19, branding and branching with David Camp
Research: Making pre-booking work
Attractions are benefiting from the switch to pre-booking, but must cater for spontaneous, disorganised visitors too, says Jon Young
Research: All creatures great and small
Zoo enrichment and research can’t just be focused on the large animals most popular with visitors, argues Dr Paul Rose. All must be represented
Research: Popularity game
Research on zoo animals focuses more on ‘familiar’ species such as gorillas and chimpanzees, rather than less well known ones such as the waxy monkey frog, scientists say
Analysis: Light in the dark
A successful winter light show can see margins upwards of 30 per cent. Kathleen LaClair and
Yael Coifman look at some of the operators getting it right
Museums: Munch Museum opens in Norway
The iconic new attraction has opened on Oslo’s waterfront with the world’s largest collection of works by Edvard Munch
Mystery Shopper: Galleries & Gourds
It has transformed the sleepy town of Bruton, UK, but does Hauser & Wirth Somerset live up to the hype? Magali Robathan mystery shops to find out
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
Royal Caribbean has revealed its Hero of the Seas cruise ship, home to the most pools at sea
(nine), and a record-breaking 28 dining venues, as well as attractions including a waterpark
with two new family raft slides.
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
