North Sydney Olympic Pool
Supporting the return of an iconic Sydney Harbour pool.
After the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, the former bridge workshop site was transformed into a recreational waterfront featuring Luna Park and the North Sydney Olympic Pool. Opening with an Olympic-length 55-yard pool and an immediate world record, it quickly became a legendary sporting venue. Over the years, the pool has welcomed athletes from across the world with 86 world records broken between 1956 and 1978, placing the pool among the most successful competition pools in Australian sporting history.
In 2021, the pool closed its site to undergo a heritage restoration and redevelopment for the facilities around them. Following a revised timeline beyond the original November 2022 completion date, Bureau Veritas was initially engaged in 2023 as an Independent Advisor to the North Sydney Council Steering Committee before going on to assist Council in the capacity of Project Manager to assist in identifying and resolving cost, time, quality and consultant and contractor management constraints on the project.
As Project Manager, Bureau Veritas provided the day-to-day management to the project as requested by Council including:
- Acting as Council’s Project Manager to manage the delivery of the project.
- Assisted in the management and delivery of the works to meet the new agreed budget.
- Managed the Programme, including status and reporting to Council’s decision makers.
- Managed the design consultants and other consultants.
- Prepare and attend monthly Steering Committee Report to meet the Council’s needs.
- Undertook regular site inspections of the building throughout construction and reported any matters arising in connection with inspections.
- Attended construction project meetings and provided directions as required.
The North Sydney Olympic Pool now features a state-of-the-art fitness and leisure centre, significantly improving and expanding the aquatic and recreational facilities available. This included a reconstruction of the 50-metre eight-lane pool, a new 25-metre pool and program pools, gymnasium and kids waterplay areas.
The iconic harbourside pool is now ready for its next chapter.
Images courtesy of North Sydney Council
Based on our experience, Bureau Veritas demonstrated strong capability in providing expert project management to an extremely challenging project. I would strongly recommend them to other organisations seeking Project Management services.
