Diving SA wants new dive tower at North Adelaide Aquatic Centre if Crows HQ gets approval
A diving group forced to move from North Adelaide to Marion because of an unsafe board wants to come back to the Aquatic Centre – and it hopes the Crows will help make it happen.
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The state’s peak diving body wants a new dive tower included in the Crows’ proposed training and administration complex so the sport can return to North Adelaide and attract new members.
Diving SA president Mark Gobbie said a tower should form part of the club’s $65 million draft plan for the Aquatic Centre site, which has moved into its final month of consultation.
The club was forced to leave the venue and move to Oaklands Park’s SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in late 2017 when Adelaide City Council closed the tower amid safety concerns.
Mr Gobbie told The Advertiser a tower would attract potential members from the northern suburbs because it would be closer than travelling to Marion.
“The closing of the North Adelaide (tower) did impact the number of divers we had,” Mr Gobbie said.
“We would expect, if there was another facility available at North Adelaide, we would be able to grow our membership base quite a bit … we could improve numbers by 20, 30 per cent or maybe more than that.”
Diving SA has about 250 members.
The Crows released draft plans for a training and administration complex to the public in December last year (artist’s impression, above).
The building, within the existing footprint of the aquatic centre, would be no higher than two storeys and separated into three integrated sections – a new aquatic centre, community building and training and administration building.
A dive board was not included in artist impressions.
A council spokesman said repair works to the current board were “unknown”. He said the council was “pleased that a lot of people are having their say” on the Crows’ plans.
Adelaide Football Club chief executive Andrew Fagan said consultation would determine what the community wants in an aquatic centre.
“Our aim is to ensure the proposed sports and community recreation hub meets the needs of as many existing stakeholders as possible, as well delivering new and additional benefits,” Mr Fagan said.
Consultation on the Crows’ plans ends on Wednesday, February 19.
