Previously there had been only wells, pumps and filthy open tanks. Hence the euphoria in Victorian Kingston over the ultra-modern waterworks taking shape at Seething Wells, alongside the turnpike road to Portsmouth.

The Surrey Comet in 1855 summed up the public mood of joyful wonder: "On taking a view of these monuments of mechanical skill and manual labour, one cannot but be filled with astonishment, and inhale an inspiration of grateful emotion, that our species is so wonderfully endowed by a beneficient creator, not only with possessing the ability and inheriting the appliances ready to perfect and carry ideas of such magnitude, but to make them adaptable channels for ministering to the comforts and health of the population."

The works that pioneered tap water in and around Kingston were redundant by the early 1990s, and controversy has raged ever since about the future of its 63-acres. Thankfully, Lambeth Water Co's fine pumping station - cathedral-like in its mighty proportions and neo-Norman architecture - has been spared.

Outside it looks much as it did on the grand opening day in 1852. Inside, there's been huge change. The massive machinery that once sent out 40 million gallons of water a day has gone. In its place are two swimming pools, a spa, steam room, four gyms, two exercise studios and all the other components of a Pinnacle Club, plus a creche, full day care nursery and other children's facilities.

Wates Leisure has already launched eight Pinnacle Clubs. Next Thursday the former Surbiton Pumping Station will re-open as the ninth. If only James Simpson could be there.

He was the brilliant architect and civil engineer who designed and built the original works. (He also, among many other things, designed and built Southend Pier, which became a model for British seaside piers for the rest of the century). So he, more than anyone, would recognise the complexity of transforming his Victorian masterpiece at Surbiton into a modern £5.8 million health and leisure centre - without destroying the period features that make this a listed historic building.

Wates Construction has done it under the ever-vigilant eye of English Heritage, and clearly it hasn't been easy to incorporate ideas from the 19th century with those designed for the 21st.

Maybe Simpson was there in spirit when Wates arrived on site last May to find six dishevelled buildings with water running through them. Two major challenges were to increase the floor area from 3,200 to 4,400 square metres; to provide separate circulation routes to and from wet facilities, like the pools and spa, and the dry, such as the gyms; and to waterproof the basement, which has a deep reservoir beneath it.

It meant inserting steel frames in three of the buildings to create upper levels, and breaking through 2.5-metre brick walls to install new stairs. And that, plus the rest of the massive undertaking, had to be completed within a 12-month contract. (It took four years to complete Simpson's original building.)

The result , by architects Tripe Wakeham, should impress heritage enthusiasts as much as the hundreds of keep-fit fans who have already become members of what must be one of the most luxuriously up-to-date centres of its kind in the UK.

Simpson would surely approve the project. The purpose of his building was to better the health of the people with pure water. And that, in the form of its splendid swimming pools and spa, is at the heart of the Pinnacle Club. Simpson would also be pleased that the new road leading to the club has been named Simpson's Way in his honour.

Adults, couples or families who join the Pinnacle Club before the opening on May 21 pay a substantially reduced joining fee. For further information, phone 0181 335 2900.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.