Biggest loan since proclamation to pay for Ashfield pool upgrade

Inner West Council will borrow $42 million to pay for the redevelopment of the Ashfield Aquatic Centre — the biggest loan in the history of the council.

A concept image showing what the redeveloped Ashfield Aquatic Centre will look like.

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Inner West Council will borrow $42 million to pay for the redevelopment of the Ashfield Aquatic Centre — the biggest loan in the history of the council.

Supporters of the mammoth project packed out the public gallery at a recent meeting, applauding the appointment of a builder, FDC Construction, for the long-awaited project.

The cost of the redevelopment has soared past the original $14 million estimated by the former Ashfield Council to $23.5 million last year to $31.5 million a few months ago before reaching its latest price tag of $44.7 million.

The new pool is costing a pretty penny but is widely supported by the community.

A council spokeswoman confirmed the $42 million loan would be “the biggest loan that council will have taken out since proclamation”.

“Council has yet to apply for the loan,” she said.

“The initial plans put forward to the community were quite limited and did not include a new health and fitness centre, or a movable floor for the new outdoor pool so it can change its depth, opening it up for a wide range of uses including water polo.

“Rather than funnelling funds into a short-term strategy to patch up the dilapidated centre which was literally at the end of its lifespan, council listened to the community and determined to future-proof the centre for future generations.”

Controversial add-ons like the gym and sauna have increased the cost of the project.

Independent Cr John Stamolis supported the project but successfully called for monthly status reports to be made publicly available to improve oversight and transparency.

“It’s absolutely essential with a loan of that magnitude that the project’s cost doesn’t blow out any further and to show the public that we are in control of our finances,” Cr Stamolis said.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said the pool was the most significant infrastructure project in the history of the inner west and would be subject to higher standards of quality assurance, project management and cost control than ever before.

A bird’s eye view of what the finished product will look like.

The loan will be funded entirely by a rate hike introduced by the former Ashfield Council by extending the term of the loan.

“The truth is that by lengthening (the term) from 10 to 20 years, that means that money is not available for other infrastructure works within Ashfield,” Cr Byrne said.

“There’s no avoiding that but its got to be looked at as an intergenerational project that will have benefits for the community for half a century.”

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In addition to the changes in the scope of work, a number of investigations had to take place to further understand the identified risks including an understanding of existing site conditions such as hazardous materials, geotechnical depth of piling and other geotechnical issues.

The pools also had to be emptied before additional geotechnical and other investigative work could be undertaken to thoroughly access the real state of the pool.

This all added to the cost of the pool, which is set to open in 2020.