UBC’s new Aquatic Centre is scheduled to be completed by November 2016 and campus staff hope it will bring a new experience to the university.
“We’re very excited about the new facility. The new facility, I would suggest, is a game changer for UBC and the community here on the Point Grey Campus,” said Stephane Delisle, the senior manager of programs and operations at the UBC Aquatic Centre
The university is building the $40 million facility on the former McInnes Field, located beside the Student Recreation Centre. Construction on the new Aquatic Centre began in October 2014 and most of the exterior structure is now complete. The remaining work will mainly be on the interior of the facility.
Kavie Toor, the director of athletic facilities and business development, said that construction on the new Aquatic Centre is on time and on budget.
The new Aquatic Centre will feature a 50-metre competition pool, 25-metre recreational pool, a leisure pool and a hot tub, each of which will occupy a different space and operate on a different tank. This is unlike the current facility where the length lanes, width lanes and leisure area share the same pool space.
Delisle said that having four different spaces in the same facility enables the development of more flexible programs and opportunities for pool users than the existing facility currently does.
“We have the abilities to be … really flexible in our programming and really expand what we can do for the community,” said Delisle.
Toor said that having competition and recreational pool spaces in the same building also makes the new Aquatic Centre unique from most other aquatic facilities, which typically serve only one of the two functions.
“[The new Aquatic Centre] has both high performance and recreation and community activities taking place under the same roof,” said Toor. “The vision of combining them into one facility really creates a unique aquatic environment where anyone can participate.”
Steve Price, UBC's head swimming coach, said that the competition pool in the new Aquatic Centre would allow for his teams to train for both short course and long course. He also said that the facility is more attractive to potential recruits.
“You do have a nicer show in [the new facility] than the existing Aquatic Centre, so that’s going to be a great job for bringing aquatic swimmers to UBC,” said Price.
Once the new facility becomes operational, the existing one will be demolished for the new McInnes Field to be built in its location.
UBC’s current Aquatic Centre has been in operation since 1978. The decision to build the new facility came after an analysis of its condition in 2014. Before the current indoor pool, the university had the Empire Pool, an outdoor swimming facility built in 1954 and decommissioned in 1978.
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