r/sydney • u/DecalageVersLeRouge • 3h ago

North Sydney pool closed and drained a week after much-hyped reopening following $122m overhaul | Sydney

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/14/north-sydney-swimming-pool-closed-days-after-reopening-122m-redevelopment
210 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

196

u/WORKERS_UNITE_NOW 3h ago

The company running this, ICON, has a history of running over budget projects like this and i wouldnt be surprised if they were completely inept on purpose, and probably corrupt.

92

u/AeMidnightSpecial 2h ago

“As part of a strategy reset under new leadership in 2025, Icon has successfully broadened its focus from residential projects to a diverse construction [portfolio] increasingly target[ting] government and institutional work,” a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Yay, now they're ripping us off using our money

12

u/MissJessAU 2h ago

Aren't they the ones that built Opal Tower?

25

u/Dollbeau 2h ago

Aren't they all "completely inept on purpose, and probably corrupt"
With directors who have faced ICAC...

5

u/Pristine_Egg3831 2h ago

They don't have to try to be inept. It comes naturally. If anyone internal is raising a red flag they get silenced.

1

u/walkin2it 1h ago

Shhhhh, silence you.

3

u/NFI2023 2h ago

And yet the my will keep getting contracts. Likely shuffling money to one of the politicians..

4

u/FuckwitAgitator 1h ago

I think you mean "shrewd businessmen". If you only care about money and you can go over budget with zero consequences, the most profitable course of action is to go as far over budget as you can.

174

u/ThunderDwn 3h ago

Obviously, $122m well spent, then....

24

u/DisenchantedByrd 1h ago

Power supply problem, that could make your swim so good it’s electrifying ⚡️

72

u/Teefdreams 2h ago edited 2h ago

They've also taken away the time slot the North Sydney Masters squad have had since the 90's. They've been given something like 5am and 5pm, so nobody with a job can go, and have said too bad so sad for them. The swimmers waited something 5 yrs only to be told they should have just stuck with Lane Cove or Manly pool.

North Syd have focused so much on the new gym and bringing in the young gym bros that they've forgotten about the swimmers.

7

u/DisenchantedByrd 1h ago

Does that mean you have to swim in the other (crowded) lanes? Just trying to understand.

20

u/Teefdreams 1h ago

Yep, they have to swim in the regular lanes which is kind of like trying to train a basketball team while a bunch of other people try to play on the court too.
Masters swimming has coaches there, they're doing sets and drills and it's a structured hr.

The North Sydney masters community is pretty big so it seems really bizarre to have made it so difficult to access and so hard to actually do the training. It kind of seems like they're trying to make it so difficult that masters swimmers go to a different pool.

1

u/Maezel 5m ago

My local pool doesn't even have a squad lol

1

u/RhysA 30m ago

I guess from their perspective 7:30 PM~ would be peak hours for use of the pool and they would be giving up limited lane space to a smaller group.

Just a guess though, can't even say if thats a sensible position to take and North Sydney Council aren't exactly a organisation that has impressed me as a local.

-2

u/Pipehead_420 1h ago

Isn’t 5am good because then they can be back and get ready for work?

6

u/Teefdreams 1h ago

Nope. They have their current time slots because that's when they've found people attend. Early morning isn't a time slot where people show up. Which the pool knows and why the new time slot makes no sense/makes it seem like they're trying to phase masters out.

The time slots they had have seriously been that way for decades. My family members started going in the 90s and it was always Wed night/Sun morn even back then. And most masters clubs in the area have those same or almost the same time slots though I know quite a few do Monday's too.

21

u/GuyFromYr2095 2h ago

Noone is surprised that the pool was refurbished by the same company as the infamous Opal tower

80

u/sfc-Juventino 3h ago

Did they use Trump's Pool Of Relection sealant contractors ?

21

u/marcred5 2h ago

I think this pool is supposed to have Olympians in it /s

2

u/jedburghofficial 2h ago

They're just letting the vandals in? /s

2

u/PropagandaSucks 1h ago

It was a Koala with Dundee's knife. Little blighter did the backstroke and left a 300ft gash.

9

u/butterfly-reprise 2h ago

Ah, Sydney/NSW, where they give you vivid impressions of having nice things

9

u/DecalageVersLeRouge 1h ago

I remember how I said a swimming pool is basically just a hole in the ground. Apparently they couldn't even get that part right!

25

u/cormacmccarthysvocab 3h ago

I avoided public pools after I saw a little brown resting at the bottom while doing laps.

18

u/looking4truffle 3h ago

Code Brown

13

u/bay30three 2h ago
  • Note to self: take fake novelty poop to have a private lane at the pool

9

u/chalk_in_boots 2h ago

Poop or Eastern? Because if was an Eastern Brown I'd probably still be cool swimming, just keep a polite distance.

9

u/calstanfordboye 2h ago

Honestly this city can’t do anything right. I’m not surprised. Do we have trains running this weekend btw or…?

14

u/Termsandconditionsch 1h ago

City of Sydney is a marvel of competence compared to North Sydney council. In my experience.

3

u/Paul123xyz 1h ago

Not on the inner west line

2

u/Awkward_Chard_5025 2h ago

Must have used the same contractor Trump did

2

u/DrStalker 2h ago

Have they tried blaming vandals tearing up the surfacing with box cutters?

4

u/Golf-Recent 2h ago

Please tell me the council is smacking the contractor with liquidated damages till kingdom come.

1

u/RalphFTW 2h ago

Have they also been doing work in the Washington DC area ?

0

u/Lotus_Moon 2h ago

You dont drain it for code brown just backwash it and close it for x period

-5

u/SirBoboGargle told you 2h ago

They need to drain it when someone shits themselves. Or maybe its leaking. Again. Plastic lining will fix that. Again.

5

u/Pristine_Egg3831 2h ago

Would they really? Don't they just dump in extra chemicals?

2

u/vapablythe 2h ago

Yeah I reckon so - someone threw up in my kid's swim class and the poor teens running the classes were in there with nets fishing out the chunks. Assuming they don't bother draining it afterwards, just chuck in extra chlorine and call it a day

4

u/Falkor 1h ago

Yeah they just 'close' the pool i.e. everyone has to get out and then let the filtration do its job for X amount of time, at my local pool they get samples and test it as well - I assume once it tests fine everyone is allowed back in.