A major milestone has been reached in the construction of Aberdeen’s new 50m swimming pool.
The Aberdeen Sports Village aquatics centre, which will offer world-class swimming and diving facilities, is on track for opening in 2014.
The latest development at the King Street site has been the integrity testing of the diving pool, which saw over two million litres of water being pumped in to check the tank is watertight.
David Beattie, chief executive at Aberdeen Sports Village, said: “This is a really important stage in the development of the Aquatics Centre which, when complete, will play a major role in encouraging participation in water-based sport and physical activity across all age groups and abilities.
“Our aim at ASV is to make sure that the people of Aberdeen and the north-east have access to the absolute best sporting facilities possible and the completion of this phase brings us even closer to achieving that goal.”
Graham Construction project manager Eddie Higgins said: “We have poured over 1700 tonnes of reinforced concrete to create the diving pool alone. Filling the tank with water represents a real step forward for the project and demonstrates the pools are really starting to take shape.
“We anticipate the water remaining in place for a week to allow us to monitor whether there is any change in level. We would then seek to transfer it to the main 50m pool to repeat the process there.
“Once the Graham team has completed this water integrity work, we will start to put the steel structure in place, allowing the community to start seeing the Aquatics Centre really come to life.”
Aberdeen City Council’s education, culture and sport convener, Councillor Jenny Laing, added: "We are delighted with the progress made with the pool to date and look forward to this facility being open and available for public use."
The Aquatics Centre is a joint project between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council and sportscotland.
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