MAJOR repair works are planned for the $7.2 million Orange Aquatic Centre, despite the state-of-the-art facility having only opened in October 2012.
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Orange City Council has allocated $240,000 for the repair work in its 2014/15 draft budget.
Council spokesman Allan Reeder said while it was “disappointing” that the repairs were necessary, they would be funded with money withheld from the contractor, the National Buildplan Group, after a number of problems were identified before the construction was completed.
“In negotiations at the time of the final settlement with Buildplan an agreement was reached which resulted in a significant discount on the final payment made by the city council,” he said.
“This discount will more than cover the work to be done.”
Mr Reeder said $95,000 would be spent on replacing the folding doors along the walls of the indoor pool building.
“There are drainage problems in the indoor shower area and some new tiling in this area will improve the functionality of that area,” he said.
“Further waterproofing will be added on the lower sections of the walls.”
Money will also be spent on a new PA system as there are two separate systems for the outdoor and indoor areas and they’re not connected.
“Since it opened the aquatic centre has been warmly embraced by the people of Orange, despite the shortfalls,” Mr Reeder said.
“These problems have been managed by staff to minimise the impact for the centre and pool users, but it will be good to have the improvements in place.”
Buildplan had already been forced to fix a number of problems before the pool opened, including repairing the 25-metre indoor pool that was not built to regulation size.
tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au
