Mornington Peninsula’s Yawa Aquatic Centre finally gets official opening

The long delayed official opening of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Yawa Aquatic Centre was held on Monday, with Mornington Peninsula Mayor Despi O’Connor finally able to launch the facility after repeated COVID lockdown delays.

After lengthy lockdowns, and with the Centre already welcoming a steady stream of users, the rescheduled official event highlighted the building’s sustainability with Mayor O’Connor commenting “the Shire has an Environmentally Sustainable Design Policy for our buildings and civil works, embedding sustainability in all of our major projects, from buildings to roads to open spaces.

“Yawa Aquatic Centre is a great example of how we have maximised sustainability in the design and build.

“The building is pressurised, much like a balloon - with few ‘holes’ to let air in. This allows us to operate the fans at lower speeds, using less energy. 

“By harvesting rainwater from the roof, we are able to replenish water in the pools organically – saving water and reducing energy use in the process.

“With a facility of this size, Yawa Aquatic Centre requires a lot of energy to run. The design team has carefully balanced the use of existing technologies, such as energy efficient gas boilers to heat the two million litres of pool water, with many state of the art smart and environmentally friendly solutions, to achieve a modern, energy efficient centre for the community.

“Council is very proud of this building with its many energy saving systems reducing carbon emissions.”

Cost and energy efficient initiatives used in the building include:

• 916 solar panels covering the entire roof of the Centre, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 406 tonnes per year and saving more than $100,000 in running costs.

• A rainwater harvesting system collecting up to 100,000 litres of water in four tanks connected to the pool filtration system. This water is used to top up the pools, saving thousands of litres of water a year.

• Energy efficient boiler to heat close to 2 million litres of pool water

• Thermal insulation around the pool shell

• High levels of air tightness to improve efficiency of the heating and cooling systems

• Advanced air pressurisation system to control the air condition, ensuring warm air in the pool areas and cooler air in the gym and café. This system works like a pool blanket, reducing evaporation and condensation

• Weather and occupancy responsive monitoring systems control lighting, heating and cooling

• A Building Management System that allows for monitoring and control of all major systems

• Energy efficient lighting, which uses less energy and needs replacing less often. Sky lights allow natural light in

• Double and clear glazing windows let heat into the building during winter.

These initiatives ensure Yawa Aquatic Centre delivers on key targets in the Council’s Climate Emergency Plan.

Reopening the Centre, and across all its sites, Mornington Peninsula shire has demanded all its 782 staff must be double dosed with an approved COVID-19 vaccine or risk losing their jobs.

Images: Mornington Peninsula Shire’s now officially opened Yawa Aquatic Centre with its massive rooftop solar installation (top) and Mornington Peninsula Mayor Despi O’Connor launches the new Centre (below, credit: Ben Walker).