1,075 days and counting. North Sydney Pool saga drags on – and we’re looking at a 2025 opening.

By ANNA USHER

The redevelopment of North Sydney Pool has again hit more delays, with the controversial project now pushed back to a 2025 completion date.

The blow comes amid construction errors and a budget explosion, with part of the new complex needing to be dismantled.

Work on the revamp began in February 2021 and was originally due to be completed by 2023 at an estimated cost of $64 million.

When that deadline passed, Council promised April 2024 would be a goer, which then got pushed out to July.

“And now we find out that it could be 2025 before we can hit the water, what an absolute joke,” resident Susan O’Brien told Mosman Collective, “people are fed up with this debacle and North Sydney Council has become a laughing stock.”

“How hard can it be to build a pool?”

Council has confirmed with Mosman Collective that another $20 million is needed to finish the project, which has already blown out to a staggering $89 million.

This means the final cost of North Sydney Pool could easily exceed $100 million.

In 1936, North Sydney Council took less than a year to build and open the Rudder and Grout-designed pool on a former construction site for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It became the most famous pool in Depression-era Australia and cemented Australia’s dominance as a swimming nation. Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, Lorraine Crapp, Ilsa Konrads and Shane Gould all swam to glory there. Eighty-six world records were set in its blue waters between 1953 and 1978.

North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker said she was “incredibly disappointed” by the latest delays as the council continues to manage the ongoing project costs.

Elected as mayor in 2022 – she has blamed project delays on decisions made during the previous term of council.

“In my opinion, the key issue for our community (at the election) should be good governance, transparency and accountability,” Ms Baker told the Daily Telegraph.

“If there had been strong, transparent governance and proper oversight it is highly unlikely that this current council would be burdened with cleaning up the impacts of the poor decisions the previous council made around this project.”

Last year, a report by independent consultants PwC found Council had limited experience in delivering infrastructure projects of such a large scale and complex nature.

Once completed, the project will include new indoor and outdoor pools, a family leisure pool, a gelato bar and a new spectator grandstand.

The pool is being built by contractor Icon which was awarded the tender to carry out the redevelopment back in 2021. In a statement, a spokesman for the company declined to elaborate on the current construction issues but said the organisation was taking the issue “seriously”.