Cost of North Sydney Olympic Pool redevelopment set to exceed $100 million

Building delays and rising costs are set to see the price for rebuilding the North Sydney Olympic Pool rise to more than $100 million - almost double the original estimate.

With construction errors reported to have seen some work dismantled, North Sydney Council is understood to now not be expecting the 87-year-old pool to reopen until 2025.

To meet the rising costs, North Sydney councillors will be meeting tonight to consider taking out a $20 million loan to help fund the upgrade to the harbourside aquatic facility, months after defects were uncovered in a steel structure that contractors had to pull down last year.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker, a critic of the former administration’s handling of the redevelopment, said the additional $20 million was shocking, advising “these are the ongoing financial impacts of poor decision-making by the previous council.”

In November last year, the council revealed a steel roof frame for the 25-metre indoor pool had to be pulled down due to a “significant” design and construction problem.

A project update for February’s council meeting said the disassembled steel could not be reused, which had caused delays. While the extent of the delays are still being assessed it is estimated that the additional wait “could extend completion of construction to late 2024/early 2025”.

The update continued “Council staff, project managers, and council’s construction contractor are working on strategies to expedite the time between practical completion and pool opening.”

The report went on to say that the council had worked through 70 of 136 extension-of-time claims for the redevelopment and approved more than $4 million in variations for the project since November.

It added “while considerable progress has been made, a high quantum of variations and extensions of time remain to be agreed, and both parties are working within the provisions of the contract

to resolve these matters. These claims relate to cost and delay regarding design changes following the award of the construction tender.”

The iconic harbourside pool closed in February 2021, when the rebuild was predicted to cost $58 million, and originally due to be finished in late 2022.

By September 2022 the budget for the project was $63.9 million, rising to $89 million by May 2023.

Mayor Baker says that the loan will push the cost of the project to between $105 million and $110 million.

The latest round of delays follows the release of an independent review of the project that found North Sydney Council failed to adequately manage risks associated with the pool delivery during planning stages of the project.

The review was also critical of the council’s budget process for the project which did not give consideration to all costs associated with the redevelopment, including internal project management, equipment, fitouts and business development.

Designed by Brewster Hjorth Architects, the project is being built by Icon Construction.

A statement from Icon Construction advised “(we are) engaging constructively with North Sydney Council in a cooperative manner and are continuing to progress these discussions and working collaboratively with council to close out the remaining design items to allow the structural steel works to recommence,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Images: Work on the North Sydney Olympic Pool in May last year (top) and the 2019 concept for the pool's redesign (below).