Maitland City Council allocates $500,000 for swimming pool tile repairs

Maitland City Council has agreed $500,000 in repair works for remedial works at the ageing East Maitland Aquatics Centre.

With recent investigations finding several major issues at the 45-year-old facility including slab movement and compliance defects, the Council signed off on the emergency repairs and upgrades at a meeting on 27th September.

The investigation of the facility revealed several major issues including failing pool expansion joints resulting in substantial water loss and impeded slab movement resulting in ‘tenting’ of the tile bed.

Set to start after an expedited selected tender process, the program will include a short term repair of the pool structure and tile bed to prevent water loss, in order to allow the Centre to reopen for the second half of the 2022/23 season.

The report prepared for the Council ahead of the 27th September meeting, says repair works will take at least 12 weeks to complete, but could be extended, as the works require the pool to be completely dry.

Repairs include the installation of core holes to relieve pressure, reinstating all pool expansions joints, applying backing rod and sealant to the tile bed and structural shell, remove of tiles and retiling of joints, repair of failed tiles areas, and installation of hydrostatic valves within the pool base.

The predicted life span of the repaired expansion joints is anticipated to be 24 to 36 months.

Advising that the Centre has required increasing maintenance since 2005, Maitland City Council General Manager, David Evans stated “the site’s topography - at the bottom of a hill - has been a big challenge, but the facility’s age is perhaps the biggest.

“These works will aim to get the pool back open in early 2023 and extend its life at least another two to three years.

“One of the challenges of any repair option we might explore is that they all require the pool to be completely dry, so we might encounter problems both from the weather or from water seeping in from the ground.”

Images: The entry to the East Maitland Aquatics Centre (top) and structural and tile damage at the Centre. Credit: Maitland City Council.