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Wednesday May 20, 2026 
30 August 2023
by Grahame Lynch
North Sydney Council has voted to support the appointment of an external management consultant to oversee the redevelopment of North Sydney Olympic Pool.
The decision came as the centre’s completion date was formally pushed out to May 2024 from an original expectation of November 2021 and as the budget for the pool blew out from $64 million in April to $86 million.
According to Council works onsite are continuing to progress, with the majority of structural works now complete.
Preparation of the internal shells of the 25m and 50m program pools has commenced and the upper roof steel is scheduled to begin by the end of this week.
APP Group has retained as external consultants after an apparent positive experience using the company in June on short term consideration of contractor variations.
“In response to project risks, in June 2023, a decision was made to contract external project management services for eight weeks to assist with the volume and complexity of variations and claims and oversee independent program and peer reviews,” a Council report read.
“This has been a valuable exercise, and it is now recommended that Council engage external project management services to oversee the project to its final stages.”
“It is expected the value of these services will exceed the $250K tender threshold. Based upon industry standards, a budget of $650K is required. In making this recommendation, consideration has been given to future risks to time, cost, and quality for the project,” it said.
General Manager of North Sydney Therese Manns said this project requires management with a high level of industry experience and expertise.
“Securing experienced consultants to manage a project of this complexity and value is standard practice, particularly when separate design and construct contracts are in place,” she said “Over the past few years, while also being impacted by delays resulting from the La Nina conditions, Local Government Councils across Sydney have delivered many very successful projects in partnership with external project management consultants including the Heffron Centre in Maroubra and the Waves Aquatic Centre in the Hills Shire.”
“Despite being some way through the project, Council’s decision is important in ensuring we are in the best position to reduce project risks,” Manns added. “A focus on driving down costs by not getting the expertise the project needs only leads to higher risks and higher costs.”
APP has provided short term assistance in recent months allowing Council to reduce the number of outstanding variations from 60 to 39.
Separately, Council has recruited and onboarded a new executive leadership team, with Gary Parsons recruited to the position of Director Open Space and Infrastructure.
“Our Council project staff on the ground have put a great effort into this project and will continue their work under the leadership of APP Group,” Parsons said. Council has also appointed Duncan Rennie as Manager Leisure and Aquatics and continues to look for candidates for other “key leadership positions” at the pool.
Manns said: “While we still have a number of challenges to work through in determining final project costs, Council has been working closely with ICON and other external contractors to ensure we keep the project operating as closely as possible to schedule.”
The contract practical completion date is now May 2024, after which a team will be on site readying the facility for opening.
“As the gym and indoor and outdoor pools take shape it is clear that this centre will offer something for everyone,” Mann added. “I am confident that it will be much loved and well used from the moment the new doors open.”
In speaking to the motion granting the budget for the management consultant, Cr MaryAnn Beregi shifted the blame for the delays and cost blow-outs to the previous council (prior to December 2021).
“What had happened in the last period of council were the decisions made to the project, such as removing external project managers and managing the project internally, decisions to have separate design and construct contracts, and a considerable reduction in project contingency as the scope increased,” Beregi said on Monday.
“And I might just say at this point, I told you so, the governance structures and the steering committee did not include technical expert advice.”
This statement was challenged by Cr Jilly Gibson, who was the mayor in the last council, but Mayor Zoe Baker ruled her to be out of order.
Gibson told the Sun, after the meeting, that she believed the project had been impacted by the departure of senior council staff last year. She said these staff “would have kept this project on time and on budget, as it was when the previous council was in power. I can’t support losing internal professionals then spending over $650,000 on consultants. I consider this a waste of ratepayer funds.”
“This mayor didn’t raise concerns about the project for almost a year after the election and only then via a mayoral minute,” Gibson said. “The pool project should have been the first priority for this elected council.”
The current council took office in January last year. Ten months later, Mayor Zoe Baker called for an “urgent review” into the pool, subsequently conducted by PWC, which was completed and then reported to councillors in December.
That report has not been published despite a council vote to do so in late April, but it has been quoted repeatedly by council officers and councillors since then. As the Sun reported in April this year, the PWC report quantified some 148 days of the delay to the pool as being the result of wet weather, unanticipated removals of hazardous materials and Covid closures.
There has not been a clear explanation for the other 400 days of delay.
The pool redevelopment project was originally costed at $58 million and was re-scoped at $64 million in December 2020 and was originally planned to be completed in November 2021 – now May 2024.