Lost Shore: £55 million inland surf resort less than an hour's drive from Glasgow to open

The Lost Shore resort in Ratho will open to the public in the autumn and with a £55 million price tag, is set to be Scotland’s most expensive sports infrastructure project to be completed for more than a decade.

The facility, which will stretch over 60 acres, will be Europe's largest inland surf destination. The project was first announced a decade ago, something which Lost Shore believes is to the benefit of the project.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Chris Bain, director of logistics at Lost Shore, said: “I think what a lot of people have done is build these quite quickly but we’ve had the benefit of time. 

“It’s a long journey that we’ve been on, but it’s given us time to think about how to do this properly, and in a way that a) is never going to lose water and b) isn’t going to degrade in any way.”

Lost Shore have worked with San Sebastian based company Wavegarden to develop the Cove technology which is set to produce 1,000 waves per hour, breaking both left and right, each one offering rides of 15-20 seconds.

Bain said: “You have an engine system that creates a wave through paddles that move through the water, that then reacts off the floor of the pool and onto the sidewalls, pushing a wave along the sidewalls.”

The system is flexible and will allow Lost Shore to continually create new wave types for surfers to enjoy.

Bain explained: “There are about 20 different types of waves we can create just now, but if a different type of wave is developed, they can just press a button in Spain and that will be sent to all the Wavegardens around the world, so we can trial that wave in our pool.”

The facility is set to offer more than just surfing, with accommodation, food and drink, and wellness facilities also on site. 

Lost Shore is currently undergoing a period of eight weeks testing before opening to the public.