Hanmer Springs granted consent for new aquatic ride and thermal pools

Resource consent has been granted for a $4.5 million development for Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa. The development includes five new thermal pools and a new aquatic thrill ride. 

The aquatic thrill ride will be a 13.5-metre-high slide, which will attach to the complex’s existing hydroslide tower and sit next to the SuperBowl. This is where the AquaPlay area is at the moment and there are plans to develop a new play area elsewhere in the complex.

Riders will shoot down the winding hydroslide in 2-person tubes, before going down a steep drop that propels them up a near-vertical wall for a moment of weightlessness before zooming back down and onto the slide’s finish.

The five new pools will sit among river boulder terraces and gardens on what is currently a grassed area next to the Rainbow Pools. They’ll be linked by waterfalls and waters cascading over the rocks.

The resource consent application for the development was lodged in November last year with the Hurunui District Council and was publicly notified.

There were no submissions opposing the application.

Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa General Manager Graeme Abbot says they are delighted to have resource consent granted.

Abbot advised “this is considerable investment in the future of Hanmer Springs, and we are rapt with the positive feedback and support we have received."

Hanmer Springs Business Association Acting Chair Michael Malthus says the development will be a benefit to the whole village, adding "the pools are a huge drawcard for Hanmer Springs. Every time they have undertaken a major development, visitor numbers increase, which in turn provides considerable economic benefit to the whole village."

The developments will be environmentally sustainable, with half the energy required to run the pools and slide coming from a heat transfer unit that will utilise energy, which is a bi-product of the Pools’ electricity generator.

Construction is due to begin in the coming weeks.