Prince George’s new downtown pool is moving through the halfway point of construction. Work on the new pool, which is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2022, is also shifting its focus from the exterior of the facility and the building envelope to the interior amenities of the indoor pool, also known as the natatorium.
This week, crews are busy forming the concrete basins that will encompass the new pool tanks, finishing the change rooms, building additional walls and roofing, and installing insulation and electrical components.
On-site work scheduled for this fall includes pool water tank testing, window installation, and working on the exterior cladding. The City expects the building will be fully closed-in this winter and landscaping is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2022.
The new pool will be eye-catching and accessible and have features attractive for all ages and abilities:
- A six lane, 25-metre lap pool.
- A four lane, 25-metre teaching pool with warmer water and shallow depth.
- A leisure pool with a lazy river, beach entry, and play features.
- A large waterslide with a run-off lane.
- A “Ninja-Cross” obstacle course.
- Dedicated male and female change rooms, as well as a large universal change room.
- Sauna and steam room.
- Rooms for lessons and training
The entire facility has been designed with a particular eye for safety and accessibly. The pool tanks will feature shallow entries and “pool pods” to provide people with mobility devices to enter. The facility will also have improved lines of sight for lifeguards to increase safety for patrons and the change rooms will open onto the shallowest ends of the pools to decrease the likelihood of falls into deep water.
Project budget and funding
The project is budgeted to cost $35 million for the pool design and construction. During a referendum in 2017, residents approved a $35 million loan to construct the replacement for the Four Seasons Pool. In 2020, the federal and provincial governments announced $10 million in funding support – the largest federal/provincial investment in Prince George infrastructure in about a decade.
In February 2021, in an effort to make the new pool even more appealing to users, Council approved the addition of the “Ninja Cross” obstacle course to the pool at a cost of $500,000. In the same meeting, Council also resolved to use the additional funding to reduce the project debt. Consequently, the loan for Prince George’s new pool stands at $25.5 million.
The downtown pool construction is roughly on budget at this time. The exception is the demolition costs of old sites including costs associated with the unpredicted removal of unstable soils in the area of the pool tanks and the remediation of a deficient primer on the structural steel components as has previously been reported. Importantly, the City is pursuing reimbursement of the approximately $1 million extra cost of the primer remediation.
During Monday’s meeting, Council will receive an update from City Administration about demolition activities and costs associated with the Four Seasons Leisure Pool and Fire Hall No. 1.
For further information about Prince George’s new downtown pool, please visit www.princegeorge.ca/aquatics. The web page provides architectural renderings of the pool design, interior floor plans and features, and information related to the 2017 referendum, during which residents of the City voted 62.5% in favour of building the new pool.
Visitors to the City website can also subscribe to receive updates about civic projects that affect the downtown directly to their inbox by subscribing to the City News and Notices page and selecting “Downtown Projects.”
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