Time is running out for the City of Mandurah to meet its expected early 2024 pool opening deadline

Time is running out for the City of Mandurah to meet its early 2024 indoor pool opening date.

It has been almost three years since Mandurah had an indoor heated lap pool.

The 25m pool has been out of action since wild winter weather caused massive damage to the roof in May 2021.

This was 1023 days, or more than two years and nine months, ago.

In August 2023, it was reported the Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre roof replacement would be delayed until 2024.

The city blamed a “once-in-a-generation trade worker shortage and high inflationary environment” for the delay.

Minutes from the January 23, 2024 council meeting read: “Works are progressing, with demolition complete. Steel fabrication has commenced, and the fix is expected to be completed by early 2024.

A financial statement revealed that $6.034 million had been allocated for the fix this year, which is well within the city’s $7.5m budget set.

However, this number is significantly higher than the original roof replacement cost estimate of $2.6m made in November 2021.

Since the pool’s closure, the project has faced blowouts to both budget and timeline.

The price to fix the roof skyrocketed to $5.7m by October 2022, with soaring materials costs, industry-wide shortages and the city’s struggle to secure a contractor blamed.

It was a year before the city found a contractor, Perth-based PCB Contractors in November 2022, and accepted their $6.7m quote to fix the roof.

In what could be seen as a disastrous period for the centre, in August last year the smaller indoor leisure pool also copped damage during a storm and was temporarily closed.

However, work has since been completed to strengthen the temporary wall between the two indoor pools.

“We know this closure has caused inconvenience to the community, which we acknowledge and apologise for,” a city spokesperson told the Mandurah Times last year.

“Unfortunately, while in normal circumstances it might be reasonable to expect an expedited program of works to address such a problem, the damage has coincided with a once-in-a-generation trade worker shortage and high inflationary environment that made it very difficult to secure the appropriate contractors.

“We will continue pushing to complete the project as soon as possible and thank the community for their ongoing understanding and patience.”