Whilst we have had a bit of rain over the past month, the weather has been kind as far as our building project is concerned and progress is on track. 

Like me, I’m sure parents have been impressed with the emergence of the pavilion building which, for many years to come, will serve the College well as the entrance to the College. With the completion of the pavilion roof, fascias are being fitted while fixing of external ceiling eaves and some internal wall sheeting is underway.

You may have noticed that the feature brickwork which houses the lift has been completed and, on the lower level, the unusual vertical brickwork (see photo) that encompasses the café has also been laid.

Tiling of the 50m pool is complete except for a small number of tiles and tiling of the learn to swim pool will commence shortly.

The grandstand has taken shape and awaits the installation of feature screening along the southern (car park) side which will allow good cross flow ventilation.

Behind the scenes, teams of electricians and plumbers have been installing the services that will keep the centre operational.  Some images from the site are here below.

Questions are now being raised in the community about the use of the Centre and I hope to address some of these here:

• Will the Learn To Swim Program be open to anyone? – Yes anyone in the community will be able to enrol their children in these lessons.
• Will there be squad swimming? – Yes there will be a St Andrew’s Swimming Club running squads and competing, combining both St Andrew’s students and external swimmers.  There will be adult squads and also triathlon squads.
• Can anyone come along and swim laps? – Yes but at this stage we are not sure on the availability of free lanes.  The College swimming and water polo program will take priority.  As with all we do at the College, we will have a Child Protection focus, so people will not be able to walk in off the street and swim. At this stage we anticipate that they may have to join the swim club as an associate member.

So much is still happening behind the scenes.  We are now looking at staff uniforms, new designs for our swimwear amongst many other things that need to be finalised.

Our Visual Art team have also been busy designing a wonderful art piece to be on display at the entrance, which will be engraved with the names of all families and friends who have donated officially to our Building Fund since the launch of the project.

A draft image of the design concept for this is here below. You will see that the design centres around waves and water and is most appropriate for our Aquatic Centre project.  It is not too late to contribute as any further contributions will go toward project enhancements.  If you are interested in giving, please click here.