Alpine Aqualand, the swimming pool facility at Queenstown Events Centre, will be closed from Monday 19 November for approximately five weeks while essential maintenance takes place to remove the pool hall’s ceiling tiles, a number of which have been found to be loose.

All other facilities at Queenstown Events Centre including Alpine Health and Fitness gym and group fitness studios, sports fields and the indoor stadium are unaffected and will remain operating as normal.

Centre management earlier closed the facility’s two hydroslides, ‘lazy river’ feature and a small area of the leisure pool as a precaution after the issue was first noticed on Saturday 27 October.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) Sport and Recreation Manager Simon Battrick said the pool closure is unscheduled but essential.

“Movement of ceiling tiles in a ten-year-old aquatic facility is not uncommon, especially given the humidity inside and the outdoor temperatures fluctuations in our alpine environment. However we do recognise the importance of Alpine Aqualand to the local community and thank them in advance for their patience while we undertake this essential work,” he said.

“Removing all the tiles at the same time is our preferred solution as it means the work can be completed most efficiently. This involves draining all pools and erecting scaffolding hence we need to close the pool hall to minimise risk to our customers and staff.”

“We plan to use this time positively by allocating staff to other roles and bringing forward our scheduled annual shutdown – routine maintenance and a thorough clean – usually held in May. This will remove the need for the later shutdown so the community can keep on swimming through that period,” said Mr Battrick.

Swim members and QLDC Swim School customers will be offered credit to cover the duration of the closure. Staff are contacting all affected clubs and regular user groups to discuss the closure and potential alternatives to minimise disruption.

QLDC Sport and Recreation is also working to open Arrowtown Memorial Pool earlier than its scheduled opening date of 9 December.

All facilities at Alpine Aqualand will close as normal at 8.00pm on Sunday 18 November and then remain closed while the initial phase of the work is completed. The pools are scheduled to reopen on Boxing Day (Wednesday 26 December).

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