Planning approval for a “game-changing” £37m (US$49m, €43.7m) water park has been granted by Coventry City Council.

The FaulknerBrowns-designed facility – which is located in the city’s town centre, and was funded by both private and public investment – is expected to open its doors in 2018.

As well as flume rides the water park contains toddler areas, leisure water and lane swimming. Most of the water features and high octane rides will be placed at the upper level of the vertical building – an unusual feature for water park design.

FaulknerBrowns partner Michael Hall said the water park was a “distinctive leisure destination”, adding: “Every so often, a project comes along which is a game-changer in the way people think about, and engage with, the leisure experience, and Coventry Water Park will be one such project.”

Writing in Sports Management in June, Hall said that the venue had signalled a change in the funding of aquatics facilities which had been “driven by lane swimming” over the last 20 years.

“The reality is that participation covers a wide spectrum of activity, ranging from supervised play through to developing water confidence, swimming for recreation and fitness and competition swimming,” he added.

As well as contributing towards the “holistic” outcomes of the government’s Sporting Future strategy, the water park offers “significant regeneration benefits in terms of access, footfall and synergies with the mixed-use economy of Coventry city centre”.