Canterbury Leisure and Aquatic Centre could become Sydney’s least delayed and least expensive new pool, despite being the latest facility impacted by the city’s fractured relationship with redevelopments.
The $70 million reconstruction of the pool, which first opened in 1959, was expected to cost about $45 million and was due to be demolished in 2022 and reopened in 2024.
Instead, it was demolished in 2023 and has missed its scheduled reopening in 2025. It is slated to reopen in about 12 months, with delays attributed to construction complications and the discovery of asbestos.
The new facility will have a 50-metre outdoor pool, a 25-metre heated indoor pool, a heated “therapy pool”, a “zero-depth” children’s pool, a sauna, a gym and a cafe.
But the aquatic centre is still a construction site, complete with rising scaffolding and the sounds of heavy machinery pounding at the ground, the old Canterbury ice rink looming in the background.
On a tour with local state MP Sophie Costis, Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek waved away concerns about blowouts, saying delays were expected with the construction of a “state-of-the-art pool”.
The reconstruction of the Canterbury Leisure and Aquatic Centre has reached the halfway point.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
“I am not going to talk timelines when my aim is to deliver a state-of-the-art facility for the community, it’s what the community deserves.
“I am not going to give you an exact month; the weather has been awful, and these things happen. But the reality is we’re on track to deliver a state-of-the-art pool that has cost tens of millions of dollars.”
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