Serious corrosion issues at the Olympia in Dundee were only discovered by chance after a walk around inspection during checks on lighting, it has been revealed.
The swimming pools at the £33 million city centre facility, which opened in 2013, closed in October after problems with loose light fixings were discovered.
The Courier can now reveal the full extent of the issues, which includes rust falling onto the poolside, leaks near electrical equipment, and severe corrosion.
Water leaking into the plant room is also described as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Despite this, no major repair work requiring the closure of the facility has been carried out since 2014 — just a year after it opened.
The emails shed more light on exactly what was discovered and when, as the public hoped for a quick reopening of the hugely popular centre in October last year.
How much more do the emails tell us?
Dundee City Council has been accused of a lack of transparency over the full scale of the problems and when they were first identified.
The Courier asked for all correspondence between the council — which is responsible for maintaining the building — and the arms-length public body Leisure & Culture Dundee (L&CD), which runs it.
The exchanges reveal for the first time that rust at the flumes was identified in September but a decision was taken to keep the pools open and keep children and adults away from the area underneath.
In an email to bosses at operators L&CD, Neil Martin, head of design & property at Dundee City Council, said: “Although, the platform continues to rust we don’t believe there is a public safety issue at the moment.
“However, we would recommend that the remedial works are carried out soon. We would note that the platform top surface does appears uneven (worse than before), especially where the surface is rusting.
“Small sections of rust continue to fall from the platform down on to the pool side below.
“It may be wise to stop the public congregating at this pool side location.”
It soon transpired the rust was so widespread that the entire flume structure needs to be removed, refurbished and reinstalled.
What else was found?
While the building was closed to allow for loose light fittings to be inspected, more problems were discovered.
Issues with the pool curtain, window fixings and speaker system were found in mid-November and made Leisure and Culture Dundee chiefs hesitant on reopening.
Instead of reopening, Judy Dobbie, managing director at Leisure and Culture Dundee, asked that these areas receive a full inspection and warned of “great consequences” if they are not safe and customers remain in the building.
In an email in mid-November, she said: “A full inspection of the curtain systems and speaker systems above the pools as well as the window fittings would be needed to reassure that these are completely safe as even a small risk of danger occurring is enough for us not to reopen as the consequences could be so great.
The pool would be under considerable scrutiny due to recent press interest and reopening could highlight more visible issues.”
Judy Dobbie, managing director at Leisure and Culture Dundee.
“There is also the factor, although less critical, that the pool would be under considerable scrutiny due to recent press interest and that reopening could highlight the more visible issues.”
‘Severely corroded’ bolts
It was also discovered that large bolts had severely corroded, with one having snapped and come from one of the window fittings.
The same type of bolts near the diving platform and ones holding a metal frame on the ceiling were of the same condition and had corroded and caused concern about other such fittings in the building.
As speakers on the ceiling had also not been inspected it was not known if bolts there were also corroded. An inspection of this can also only be done at height.
It was then decided that the Olympia could not reopen until the bolts are inspected and replaced.
To repair the speakers should they break, specialist equipment would be needed, requiring a full draining of the pool. It has never been emptied before.
Will Dawson, L&CD’s health and safety committee chair, suggested a new lighting rig that could be lowered and save hundreds of thousands of pounds on scaffolding in the long-run.
The emails also reveal leaks into the plant room, which contains electrical equipment, became more serious during lockdown in April 2020.
Mr Dawson said in one email dated in late October: “It [the lockdown] has allowed areas to dry out and contract, so what would have been small leaks are now more substantial than they were with much of the water from the showers hitting electrician switchgear and pumps in the plant room and boiler room, which is another disaster waiting to happen.”
In another exchange around around two weeks prior, Ms Dobbie says: “I was in the plant room today and the water was dripping through the ceiling and is getting really close to the control panels, and the corrosion in the room with the chemicals isn’t looking good.”
Maintenance work to cost millions
The council was asked how bolts could get to the stage of being “severely corroded” without it being noticed by maintenance staff.
The authority was also asked whether the building was at any stage unsafe while the public was using the facility.
The council did not directly answer the two questions but said a report has previously provided information on how the issues arose.
A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “The city development committee approved a report at a meeting in December which detailed how the situation arose and what is being done about it.
“In order to avoid a series of closures to address each of the maintenance issues identified as they arose, the council had been planning a single closure to allow a larger maintenance exercise to be undertaken in 2022.
“Councillors approved the report which means that works, anticipated to cost in the region of £3.5m – £4.5m will be the subject of a further tender report which will be brought back to committee in due course.”
