ANOTHER of City of Vincent’s “ghosts of finances past” was put to rest with $400,000 put aside for repair at Beatty Park Leisure Centre after a partial structural collapse of the grandstand last year.
In 2013, the City spent $17 million upgrading the facility, but stage four, which would have included a renewal of the ground floor plant room and repurposing the grand stand, never progressed.
Three years later , a large section of render on the underside of the eastern grandstand area collapsed after hours causing sheets of render rubble to fall onto the eastern pool deck, prompting an investigation into the integrity of the 1962 structure.
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READ NOWThe report found asset management and maintenance of the grandstand and plant room was “inadequate and uncoordinated over many decades”.
Two 15m-tall pool deck light poles also had to be replaced in June after it was discovered they were unsafe due to corrosion.
Council passed the unbudgeted expenditure for repairs in June and put the wheels in motion to begin a management plan for the centre.
Mayor Emma Cole said she was pleased to move forward on the issue.
“It was not a good news story, it was another of Vincent’s ghost of finance and asset past, but we are working on the management plan now, which is sadly the first in its history,” she said.
A report outlining a long term asset management plan is due to be completed and presented to council by March 2018.
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