In 2005, Alice Springs Town Council identified that its 30 year old public pool was only 1.09 metres deep – shallower than the Australian guidelines for safe diving during FINA and sanctioned competitive events.
Council received a report from the Outdoor Swimming Pool Redevelopment Committee containing submissions made by key user groups, and Swimming Australia’s national swimming pool design advisor to modify the pool to bring it in line with Australian standards.
While the pool was considered to be structurally sound prior to the redevelopment, the diving blocks were thought to be too high for competitive swimming in relation to the depth of the pool.
Council’s Engineer, Tony Cheng, in consultation with GHD Consultants, decided the best method to rectify this was to deepen the pool.
“By deepening the pool in a manner that approximately maintained the same volume of water, meant that changes to the mechanical plant were not required and the new design resulted in a significant saving for the project,” he said. “An interesting point is that throughout the entire project not a single jackhammer was used.”
The solution of demolishing one end of the pool and reconstructing it at a greater depth also resulted in a short construction phase for the upgrade and ultimately minimal impact on all user groups. Many clubs, school groups and community members can now enjoy increased safety at the pool and use the facility more.
The upgrade also meant that the 20th anniversary of the Master’s Games last October was able to include swimming in the program.
The project took five months to complete and the deepened end of the eight lane pool is now two meters. The new starting blocks are also built to FINA standards, and a non slip surface has been added to the concourse of the pool.
