Lake Macquarie City Council

Lake Macquarie City Council appointed Otium to develop its new Aquatic Facilities Strategy, replacing the existing and outdated service delivery model. The Council owns and manages six aquatic centres, and this strategy provides strategic direction for their provision, development and management for the next 20 years.

Otium combined its industry expertise with a variety of engagement activities to understand the key challenges within the network and identify the future needs within Lake Macquarie.

The Strategy has provided Council with a comprehensive planning framework that:

• Considers the public and private supply of aquatic centres and pools within their municipality.
• Is guided by Council’s vision for their residents to have access to an integrated, diverse, inclusive, sustainable and modern network of swim centres that support active lifestyles, value swimming as a life skill and provide opportunities for social and community connection.
• Is based upon an Aquatic Facility Network Hierarchy that identifies their centres as regional, citywide, or district serving.
• Contains an evidence-based and prioritised action plan.
• Provides centre-specific actions that identify the future direction and investment needed for each centre.
• Implementation and review process.

City of Newcastle

To conduct a critical review of its inland pools and provide recommendations. The City’s five inland pools are all of similar age and facility mix. This strategic plan provides a recommended investment strategy for each inland pool to ensure their safe operation and consider enhancements over the next 20 years.

The objectives of this project included:

• Identify and provide evidence to support the estimated life expectancy of each pool’s shell.
• Where relevant, propose repair vs replacement costs.
• Identify any equipment in need of replacement or repairs to meet industry standards.
• Develop a prioritised schedule of works for each facility, complete with cost estimates and timeframes.
• Report based on structural assessment and safety compliance.

The Strategy provides Newcastle City Council with:

• A review of the operational performance Council’s inland pools.
• An assessment of the inland pool’s conditions, undertaken by JWC Engineers (2021). Recommendations were also provided for further testing and the implementation of a five-year emptying schedule for the pools, allowing for more cost-efficient repair, if needed.
• Analysis and recommendations guided by key principles that align future improvements and investment to Council values.
• A classification of the network.
• Individual pool recommendations, sorted as short term (0-5 years), medium term (6-10 years), and long term (11-20 years), with cost estimates.

City of Gold Coast

To review the performance of the City’s in-house and outsourced aquatic centres, recommend a management model for each centre and identify short, medium and long-term (up to 20 years) needs for future aquatic facilities, programs and services that maximise community benefit and financial viability for the City.

Since adoption of the Strategy, the City of Gold Coast have invested approximately $100 million in new and existing facility upgrades across three strategically important sites, including:

• Miami Aquatic Centre
• Palm Beach Aquatic Centre (opened October 2024)
• Northern Gold Coast Corridor Aquatic and Leisure Centre (opened December 2021)