Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre
Sydney Olympic Games 2000
As the last permanent venue to be completed for the 2000 Olympic Games, the Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre was always subject to extreme pressures and expectations. The facility, which hosted the water polo preliminaries during the Sydney Olympics incorporated a:
- 50 metre 'wet deck' FINA standard competition pool
- Leisure pool which incorporates wave generating equipment, active water features and 25m lap swimming
- 48 metre waterslide
- Sauna, spa, steam room, kiosk, hydrotherapy pool and toddlers' pool
The APP Group actively managed the changing needs of approximately 30 project stakeholders by maintaining their focus on the task whilst dealing with their specific needs. Our team regularly staged and encouraged inspection of other similar venues to test design buildability and operational issues.
Our role continued in the lead up to the Olympic Games and we were engaged to manage the Olympic overlay and site management. Temporary works included spectator stands, toilets, facilities for ticketing, catering, broadcasters, press, competitors change areas and doping control. The majority of these works were required to be done whilst the pool was open for public use.
The construction of the 1200 seat stadium was complex as cranes could not be used to erect the 20 tonnes of steel required for the structure. The APP Group provided the buildability know how that resulted in one portion of the stand being erected with the legacy works and the remainder being carried into the centre by hand and being erected in 6 days. After the games, the stand was removed without the use of major equipment or damage to the pool tiles or surrounding areas.
Despite a very short time line, and significant community concern about the loss of the old pool complex, The APP Group have been pivotal in delivering a new building with which not only meets the rigorous standards of an Olympic venue, but also the demanding needs of a state of the art municipal swimming complex. The APP Group team successfully managed a complex project with, at times, conflicting stakeholder requirements. Through good planning and administration lead by the APP team, the venue has since been commissioned and opened to the public with a minimum of fuss, a process which has been fraught with difficulty on past swimming pool projects of this complexity.
