Newsletter 23 – Olympic Pool

Let’s talk about the North Sydney Olympic Pool – I was elected on a platform that included the rebuilding the pool. A promise delivered.

North Sydney’s Olympic Pool complex was opened in 1936 it was:

• something to be proud of, little wonder that it became one of Sydney’s icons;
• the venue used to showcase Sydney in the 1936 Empire Games and
• the pool that saw so many records shattered.

The pool complex has reached the end of its serviceable life:

• the pool leaks upwards of 30,000 litres a day into the harbour;
• concrete cancer has diminished the load bearing capacity of the grandstand leading to limits on spectator numbers and measure to prevent crowd surges (as spectators move towards the finishing line).

It needed to be replaced – what with?

Back in 1936 North Sydney was then very different:

• it had a population of 15,000 people – many living on farms.

Now it has five times as many residents.

In 2013 our Council started consulting the community about what it wanted in the the new pool complex.

• Six designs were developed (estimated, a few years ago, to cost between $16 and $72m).
• One design (so called “option 2”), the second most basic, won broad support – importantly it
  allowed for the:
  • retention of the brick walls and plaster moulds that are so much a part of the magic of
    the pool;
  • inclusion of pools for all ages along with facilities that we have come to expect.

The need to replace the grandstand was not known at the start of the process.

By and large North Sydney’s Councillors are pragmatic and listen to the community.

Council decided to go with option 2, had specifications drawn up and called tenders for construction – a process designed to deliver in a methodical way.

The cost will be around $60m – like the visionary people of North Sydney did in 1936 we are reviving an icon that is and will continue to be so much a part of Sydney’s life.
Failing to maintain our infrastructure is simply not the way forward given we have the capacity to do otherwise.

Council has now signed the contract to go with option 2 – construction is expected to start in March

The disappointment is that our local member was able to deliver little support from the State Government for the pool – $5m is little when compared to the $700m for the Moore Park stadium, $100m for Walsh Bay Piers 2 and 3 and $70m for Paramatta’s pool.