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Coming Our Way: A Brighter, Spruced-up Aquatic Centre

Monday 29 October 2007, 10:57AM

By New Plymouth District Council

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NEW PLYMOUTH

By this time next year both the indoor and outdoor areas of the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre will be brighter, tidier and more exciting following a revamp.


But the biggest change will be for the indoor pools, where the pool surrounds will be redecorated and two new hydroslides will see users splashing down inside the building.

“The aquatic centre has been going strong since it opened 14 years ago in 1993, but now it is time to bring new life into it and excite a whole new generation of children,” says Manager Recreation and Events Paul Nisbet.

“At the end of the project the indoor pools will be brighter and have a fresh feel to them, the changing rooms and toilets will be refreshed and the terracing and paving around the outdoor pools will be repaired.

“It’s a big job, and we’re staging the works so there will always be some pools available for the public to use, but at the end of it the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre will look fantastic.”

The project will see the removal of the outdoor water slides at the eastern end of the complex, and the construction of two water slides outside the western end of the indoor pool building. They will be fully linked to the indoor pool and so be available for use all year round.

The new hydroslides will be the tallest in New Zealand. Users will enter and exit them from inside the building, making them useable throughout the year, with the exit chutes installed between the main pool and the sauna.

The council plans to brighten the indoor pools’ area through the use of light colours and modern skylights, and also bring in new water features and generally freshen the surrounds. “The cost of the items we’ve selected has yet to be finalised so there may yet be some fine-tuning to the project’s scope,” says Mr Nisbet.

The main changing rooms will be revamped with new surfaces and facilities, cracks and slumps in the outdoor paving will be repaired, and maintenance work on the terraces and outdoor lights will be undertaken.

In addition, a new roof will be installed on the indoor pools’ building.

The $2.76 million project was approved as part of Budget 07/08. About $380,000 is from sponsorship while the rest is from depreciation funds. (Depreciation funding is money set aside to pay for future maintenance and replacement of existing council assets.)

The first stage of the project will focus on the indoor pool, with work scheduled to start around the beginning of January next year. Part of this stage will require the indoor pool complex to be closed for up to six weeks, with completion scheduled for March.

“By doing the indoor work at that time, the public will still have access to the outdoor pools during the warmest and most settled time of the year,” says Mr Nisbet.

“We’ll leave the outdoor work until those pools have closed for the season, to minimise disruption to aquatic centre users.”

The entire project will be finished by Labour Weekend next year, when the outdoor pool seasons starts again.



Design of the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre redevelopment (2MB PDF)