In its largest-ever capital works project, Glen Eira City Council has set the benchmark for council-run sports and aquatic centres, meeting community health and leisure needs with a focus on sustainability.

By Gemma Black

Against stiff competition, Glen Eira City Council in south-eastern Melbourne has won the top prize at the 2013 IPWEAvic Awards for Excellence, with its Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre (GESAC) – the largest council-run facility of its kind in Victoria.



Opened to the public on 7 May 2012, the $46.6-million centre is the largest capital project ever undertaken by Glen Eira City Council. Facilities include a 50-metre outdoor pool, four indoor pools, sauna, steam room, spa, indoor multi-sports stadium, water slides, leisure water features for kids, a gymnasium, crèche, café and consulting suites, including physiotherapy services.

“The facility incorporates innovation to improve profitability, community participation and environmental performance, with best-practice energy and water saving,” says Mark Judge, Group Manager of Major Projects and Infrastructure Renewals at Glen Eira City Council.

GESAC’s award-winning features are mainly centred on ecologically sustainable development (ESD). These include glazing that balances thermal performance with natural lighting; 300,000-litre capacity rainwater harvesting; pool backwash recovery for flushing toilets, irrigation and topping up the pools; heat exchangers with 60–70% efficiency; and a building management system that harvests energy-use data throughout the centre. ESD engineers estimate these features and others will avoid the emission of 82,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and save the council $550,000 in water costs and up to $2.8 million in energy costs over a 25-year period. Further carbon emissions are offset using green power.

No project is without challenges, and in keeping with the centre’s aquatic side, construction of GESAC happened to take place during one of Melbourne’s wettest periods in 13 years. In response, the project management team took the innovative approach of proposing the contractor install a temporary tent structure over the outdoor pool, ensuring tiling activities could be maintained.

A year since opening, GESAC is already recognised as a success story and a leading Australian example. A combined 48 councils and industry organisations have visited the centre, including 11 from interstate and overseas, while Life Saving Victoria has also indicated it will use GESAC as a training venue for industry qualifications.

The centre’s member count of 4000 at opening has grown to 10,500, and it welcomed its millionth visitor on April 19 this year. Within those visitor numbers, Glen Eira’s roughly 140,000-strong population is represented broadly across age demographics and gender – 48% male, 52% female, 55% children and 45% adults.

As well as outstripping the membership predictions of the original business plan, the key project objective to cover operational costs has been easily met. “In that first year, operating forecast transformed from a $320,000 deficit to an approximate $2 million surplus based on memberships and current revenue patterns,” says Judge. The cost to council per visit also reduced from $8 to the former pool, to $0 per visit to GESAC. •••

To read more or see other submissions to the 2013 IPWEA Victoria Awards for Excellence, visit ipwea.com/awards2013.

In the picture: Tension fabric roof structure incorporating water slide stair tower.

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