Re: #U/C: $100m State Swimming Centre
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:00 pm
Went past today and walked all around the site (as close as it's possible to do at the moment).
It does look like they're putting the finishing touches to it now. The fencing has been moved outwards to allow landscaping / pavements etc to be done (and I could see that they have well and truly started doing that).
My main criticisms would be that there's probably going to be insufficient parking spaces. Presumably most users will have to use the Werstfield carpark, but that's already pretty close to capacity a lot of the time, weekends and school holidays especially, which is also when the swimming centre will get most use.
Also the appearance of the building could have been a lot better. It's not terrible but it does more or less look like a tin can on its side, as aptly described earlier in this thread. Also the building and surrounding buildings look too closely crammed together. If they'd just built the swimming centre and not the adjacent new medical building, at least there would have been some open space. That could have been used partly for an outdoor pool, or the building could have been made a bit bigger and included a lazy river. The remaining space could have been used for carparking and some visually attractive landscaping.
I'm surprised the council allowed it in its current form, given that it lacks those elements (carparking and open space especially).
Still though, in practical terms it is looking like it will be a good place to visit and I'm looking forward to it. Won't be long now.
It does look like they're putting the finishing touches to it now. The fencing has been moved outwards to allow landscaping / pavements etc to be done (and I could see that they have well and truly started doing that).
My main criticisms would be that there's probably going to be insufficient parking spaces. Presumably most users will have to use the Werstfield carpark, but that's already pretty close to capacity a lot of the time, weekends and school holidays especially, which is also when the swimming centre will get most use.
Also the appearance of the building could have been a lot better. It's not terrible but it does more or less look like a tin can on its side, as aptly described earlier in this thread. Also the building and surrounding buildings look too closely crammed together. If they'd just built the swimming centre and not the adjacent new medical building, at least there would have been some open space. That could have been used partly for an outdoor pool, or the building could have been made a bit bigger and included a lazy river. The remaining space could have been used for carparking and some visually attractive landscaping.
I'm surprised the council allowed it in its current form, given that it lacks those elements (carparking and open space especially).
Still though, in practical terms it is looking like it will be a good place to visit and I'm looking forward to it. Won't be long now.
