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Hydrilla, the lead contractor on the recently completed upgrades at the Whyalla Recreation Centre in South Australia, has shared its experience on its work on the project on the much loved and frequented facility.

Located just over four hours north of Adelaide, Whyalla, the Eyre Peninsula’s biggest city, is one of only a handful of regional aquatic and recreation centres outside of metropolitan Adelaide.

Featuring a 25 metre lap pool, a recreation pool with beach entry and water features, along with a spa pool, prior to the works it had fallen behind SA Health's Standard for the Operation of Swimming Pools and Spa Pools.

In a case study, Hydrilla advised "the foundation of the aquatic upgrades were centred around the critical infrastructure, the plantroom and associated equipment.

"The existing sand filters for the 25m lap pool were at the end of their usable life and the whole hydraulic system was not able to meet the SA Health requirements of water turnover rates for commercial swimming pools.

"Furthermore, the community was desperately calling out for the spa pool - that has been out of commission for almost four years, due to severe leaks in the pipework - to be returned to use.

"Lastly, the replacement of a number of tiles, regrouting, new water features and Life Floor installation made up the total scope of works of the refurbishment.

"Renovation works at Whyalla Recreation Centre had been tendered twice in the past, always falling short of moving forward with the completion of critical works due to budget restrictions."

However, Hydrilla was able to work with Whyalla City Council to reconfigure the overall scope of works to ensure critical refurbishment could occur while staying in budget.

The Adelaide-based company explained "we were able to achieve this by changing the filtration system and refining the filtration design with revised water turnover rates to suit the centre bather loading."

Other than the regional location, one of the main constraints that Hydrilla faced in the renovation of the Centre was the very short time frame for completion of the works for the 25m lap pool – a mere six weeks in total - as the Whyalla Swim Carnival was scheduled to utilise the 25m pool in mid-March and the date of this event could not be changed.

Hydrilla noted that "our team were available to work long hours and weekends to deliver the first part of the project for this milestone, and the Swim Carnival was a resounding success."

In addition, Hydrilla found that "the leisure pool, consisting of an overhead slide, water features and beach entry needed some major cosmetic and safety upgrades.

"The slide had reached the end of its usable life and was removed, and the water features were upgraded to be more child friendly. The beach entry had become a safety hazard as the existing entry surface was very rough and patrons of the facility were reporting cuts and scratches to their feet when entering the pool.

"We knew the best option to remedy this was to install super soft and durable Life Floor in place of the rough pebble surface.

"Lastly, the community’s beloved spa needed a lot of work.

"The hydraulic system was leaking badly, and it didn’t meet the water turnover rates required for a spa pool (which are higher than swimming pools due to the water temperature).

"We excavated around the spa to replace the cracked pipes and added additional water in and outlets to vastly improve the water turnover rates."

As well as the replacement sand filters, three new UV systems (one for each pool), a new electrical board, three new Prominent chemical controllers, dosing pumps and circulation pumps were added to the plantroom to bring the facility not just in line with SA Health’s water turnover requirements but exceed them.

Click here to contact Hydrilla Pty Ltd (formerly State Wide Pool Services Australia Pty Ltd) via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: The upgraded plant room at the Whyalla Recreation Centre (top, credit: Hydrilla) and representatives of some of the key local contractor companies involved in the upgrade program, (below, from left): YMCA, Impact Built, WinPatrol, Veolia and Steve White Builders, as well as lead contractor Hydrilla. Credit: Whyalla City Council.

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