Works on the Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre’s indoor pool roof have finished after almost three years but the City of Mandurah still has no confirmed reopening date, to the chagrin of frustrated pool users.
Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams said on Friday the roof above the 25m lap pool had been “fully replaced” but the pool itself then needed repairs so it could not yet reopen.
“Now that the roof replacement is complete and while the pool is already drained, we will be using the final weeks of closure to complete some maintenance and refurbishment works to the pool to help avoid additional maintenance closures in the near future,” he said.
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“These works could not be completed during roof replacement due to the scaffolding in place.”
Much of these repairs are expected to be completed by Thursday, when the pool is due to be refilled with water.
Mr Williams said the pool would then be tested “to ensure it meets safety standards” before reopening to the public, but a reopening date could not be announced until this phase was completed.
“As soon as we have completed the testing, we will know how soon we can get the pool back open for use,” he said.
It is expected a reopening date will be announced by the end of next week. The MARC’s spa and sauna, which closed last May for renovations, will also reopen to the public at the same time.
The 25m indoor pool has been out of action since the roof was extensively damaged during a storm in May 2021.
Its long closure has been frustrating for regular users such as Sharon Armstrong, who relied on the pool for therapy.
Ms Armstrong lives with arthrogryposis, a condition that causes joint contraction and muscle weakness, and would walk in the pool to help ease the contractions and strengthen her muscles.
She said the extended pool closure had had a “huge impact” on her life and her disability made it hard for her to travel to another aquatic centre.
“That was my exercise, I can’t do much else,” she said.
“So it has had an impact; I mean, I have put on weight because I can’t do my exercise. Walking in the water is far easier for me than walking on the land.
“My mobility has definitely been affected because I do use electric wheelchairs so I need to be able to get into the water so that I am walking because I feel my knees are really quite a lot weaker.”
Although the 50m outdoor lap pool remains open, Ms Armstrong said the water was too cold to have any therapeutic benefit.
“Doctors and physios always recommend a heated pool to loosen up the muscles,” she said.
Ms Armstrong said she was “frustrated” to hear last week that the pool was still unable to open and called for the city to provide a timeline for its return to use.
The re-roofing project was slated to be completed by September 2023 but a city spokesperson said a “once-in-a-generation trade worker shortage and high inflationary environment” caused the project to be pushed back to this year.
The price to fix the roof skyrocketed to $5.7 million by October 2022 — from an original estimate of $2.6m in late 2021 — with materials costs, industry-wide shortages and struggles to secure a contractor blamed.
The city accepted a $6.7m quote from Perth-based PCB Contractors to fix the roof, with $6.034m allocated for the fix this year from the city’s $7.5m budget for the project.
Once the indoor pool does reopen, the smaller indoor leisure pool — which was damaged during a storm last August and was temporarily closed — will need to close for repairs.
Mr Williams said the works would include adding acoustic panelling to the roof over the pool and “minor pool repairs similar to what is being done in the 25m pool to improve the overall use and experience of this area”.
“These works are expected to take six weeks and during this time the leisure pool area will not be accessible to customers,” he said.