Hi-tech toilets to rise from the ground in Surfers Paradise public urination battle

A PAIR of hi-tech crime toilets which rise from the ground at night will be installed in central Surfers Paradise next year to fight public urination.

Hi-tech pop-up toilets for Surfers

A PAIR of hi-tech chrome toilets which rise from the ground at night will be installed in central Surfers Paradise next year as the latest weapons in the fight against public urination.

The $150,000 unisex “Urlift Lady” retractable toilets will be installed outside popular Orchid Ave nightclub Sin City by the Gold Coast City Council in a bid to avoid a repeat of last year’s embarrassing deployment of open-air urinals.

The council anticipates the hydraulically powered, self-cleaning toilets will rise from the footpaths late at night when demand is high and then retract into the ground at dawn.

OPEN-AIR URINALS IN SURFERS PARADISE LOOK SET TO RETURN

PORTALOOS TO BE TRUCKED INTO SURFERS PARADISE

Here it comes ...

What loo?

Ready to lend relief

Almost there ...

Once underground and out of sight, the only visible sign of them will be a circular cover on the pavement, with the council having 200 colours to chose from.

Area councillor Lex Bell said the hi-tech toilets were the best solution to a problem which has haunted city leaders for more than a decade.

“This is the best result we could have hoped for and I am happy with the result because it would be good to trial these devices,” he said.

“However, they will not be sufficient to deal with people during high-intensity periods such as Schoolies and the Christmas holidays but then again, nothing would be.

“I am looking at these with great interest and if they are found to be working, we can scatter more of them around in a number of locations because it is clear that for them to be used by drunken people, they must be where they can be stumbled to.”

On the way up ...

Nothing to see here ...

The doors closed on the Urilift for women.

Hello ladies!

However, don’t expect to see the devices appear this summer.

Portaloos will instead be trucked in and out nightly to deal with the human waste in lieu of the open-air urinals which attracted international attention last year.

The urinals, which were placed in Orchid Avenue, were part of a three-month trial but immediately attracted criticism from business owners and tourists.

The new solution went before the council’s City Infrastructure and Water committee yesterday morning and received overwhelming support from councillors.

The matter will go before next week’s last full council meeting of the year.

The move brings the Gold Coast into line with Sydney where a Urlift toilet has been approved for Kings Cross.

More than 200 of the hi-tech commodes are already installed throughout the UK, France and other European locations and have been rolled out over the past 15 years.

While some contain open-air urinals, the type the council is eyeing off will have fully enclosed cubicles.

Council officers recommended approval of a third unit outside high-end retail outlet Louis Vuitton but councillors declined to support it.

Mayor Tom Tate backed the new toilets and said they would prove to be just one element of the solution to the public urination in the “jewel in the city’s tourism crown”.

“I think as a solution coming into high-visitor season it is good to have this latest technology in place,” he said.

“We should still look at a long-term solution and this means a toilet block in Surfers Paradise and this is what we have to work towards.

“There is always the attitude of not in my backyard but we will pick the right location for the community.

“If it is a choice between wetting yourself and using one of these, it is a no-brainer.”