Costs for new Regina indoor pool balloon to over $245 million

Costs for a new indoor pool in Regina have ballooned to over $245 million, an increase of more than $84 million more than originally approved.

The project was originally allocated $160.7 million by Regina City Council.

According to a council staff report, the increase in cost is due to inflation and “improved clarity on the design of the facility and the various systems and components required to align to the approved scope.”

Regina Optimist Dolphins Swim Team head coach and manager Baylee Munro believes the city needs the new facility despite the increase.

“My belief is that the cost is not too much. And my reasoning for that is given that these facilities are such huge legacy pieces of the community, you think that one of them could last for 60 years,” said Munro.

“There’s a lot of positive output that comes from a facility like this. There’s a lot of jobs created. There’s a lot of essentially capacity increase and opportunity for more development, whether it’s bringing people in or hosting more things that actually grow and develop our own community. I view it as something that has a high return on investment in several ways.”

READ MORE:

• City issues RFP for Wascana pool accessibility upgrades
• Time capsule buried at Wascana Pool to mark first year
• City asking people to stop pushing emergency stop button at Wascana Pool waterslides

The new pool would be a replacement for the Lawson Aquatic Centre. Munro said the current state of the Lawson does not allow for high-level competitions to be hosted in Regina.

“We want to be able to host national-level events,.” said Munro. “Based on the design of the new pool, we’d be able to welcome and accommodate bigger and bigger events that are essentially at the national level. We could host some Canadian Open-level events, perhaps even some of the Olympic trials.”

With Canada’s success in swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Munro said now is the time to invest in high-quality swimming centres in Regina.

“There’s more and more people, with the success of Summer Olympic athletes like Summer McIntosh and Josh Liendo, that are interested in trying out aquatic sports. I would say the facility space is a limiting factor, and the demand is really there,” said Munro.

Munro said it’s difficult to host any type of event at the Lawson due to the limited space.

“If one team’s hosting a competition, then everyone’s out of the water. And if the university pool is not available or the university pool is closed for maintenance, which has been happening more and more often, then that creates a really really difficult conflict,” said Munro.

“The new facility would essentially allow multiple activities to be run in parallel in a better way. Such as having places where competitive swimming can be run in one area. And then diving, which needs essentially silence for divers to be able to do their activity, they’d be able to have their own area. And this would all run in parallel to leisure activities, so there would be no shut down to other activities with this proposed model.”

Regina’s executive committee will vote on the budget increase proposal on Wednesday. If approved, the proposal will go to Regina City Council next week.

READ MORE:

• City issues RFP for Wascana pool accessibility upgrades
• Time capsule buried at Wascana Pool to mark first year
• City asking people to stop pushing emergency stop button at Wascana Pool waterslides