Dundee’s new swimming pool is behind schedule and will not open to the public until next year.
Cold weather and staff training has delayed the £31 million project to replace the Olympia, and it will not be open to the public until early in 2013.
Stewart Murdoch, managing director of Leisure and Culture Dundee, said that while the project was running on budget, it was around three weeks behind schedule.
”The pool should be ready by the end of 2012 but it won’t open to the public until the start of 2013,” he said. ”What we don’t want is to open at the start of a holiday such as the Christmas period, so we will see out the end of 2012 in the existing Olympia and we will be into the new building as soon as all the staff have been trained. We have to keep running the existing Olympia while training the staff in the new facilities and the health and safety, which is complex.”
Lindsay Cowan, Tayside regional director for builders Mansell, said: ”It’s been going really well, but the winter weather has been frustrating. When the temperature is only just above freezing there are certain types of work that can’t be done, which is frustrating for the team. Other than that we’re happy that it’s been going really well.”
The 50-metre pool, which is large enough for Olympic competition, will be filled with over a million litres of water for the first of two tests next month. It will take 13 days and five hours to fill the pools with the 1,133,000 litres of water needed, including the four metre deep diving pool and a children’s activity area.
The main pool will have an adjustable floor so the depth can be altered for different conditions and competitions.
When completed the complex will be encased in glass on three of four sides.
The building will also feature a fitness centre and a cafe overlooking the pool, and a retail centre.
A multi-storey car park is also being constructed to serve the pool and the wider city centre, which will accommodate 550 cars.