To no one’s surprise, redevelopment at North Sydney Olympic Pool is again delayed.
North Sydney Council’s upgrades to the site began in March of 2021, with an original estimated completion date of November 2022. Though, Sydneysiders missed enjoying the summer heat in the promised pool as the project’s completion date moved to April 2023.
After the realities and issues of taking on such a large-scale project began to rear its head, North Sydney Council charged private consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an independent review.
The review found that decisions made by Council, as not hiring external project managers, not managing risks throughout the project, and incorrectly factoring elements like equipment into the budget, left a compounded, negative effect. The result is, essentially, continuous delays.
‘The renovation of North Sydney Pool is a prime example of how not to do an infrastructure project,’ says Kylea Tink, Federal Member for North Sydney. ‘The problems with this project started when the former Scott Morrison Liberal government threw $10 million in pork-barrelled cash at the project ahead of the 2019 election in a bid to retain the federal seat of North Sydney.’
Member Tink continues, ‘The community deserves better and it’s time for all parties involved in this to publicly communicate a plan for re-opening the North Sydney Pool before the end of the year.’
North Sydney Council had altered the completion date to “mid-2024” – ever vague and malleable. Locals who have continued to question when, if ever, Sydney Olympic Pool will be opened will be thrilled to know that the completion date has been moved again.
Sydneysiders, get your swimmers ready for late 2024 to early 2025.
