Southside Hydrotherapy pool

We are building a hydrotherapy pool on Canberra’s southside.

The ACT Government allocated $8.5 million in the 2022-23 ACT Budget for the pool. It will be located next to the Tuggeranong Lakeside Leisure Centre.

The pool will offer a vital service for a wide range of people:

• It provides people with mobility issues access to an important form of recreation.
• It helps people better manage chronic pain caused by illnesses such as cancer, migraine, osteoarthritis, and arthritis.
• It helps people recover from injury or surgery.

ACT Health has been carefully developing detailed designs for the facility with architecture firm GHD. We have used community and stakeholder advice to ensure we are delivering a modern facility that meets the needs of the community now and in future.

Construction has now started and is expected to be completed in mid-2025.

Stakeholder Engagement

ACT Health has consulted with hydrotherapy pool users, members of the community, professional health providers and user groups over the past three years. This has helped identify a preferred location, design principles for the centre and the design and arrangement of critical features and elements in the centre.

The contributions provided by stakeholders and users during the consultation has helped ensure the centre is accessible, safe, and comfortable for the range of users and their needs.

To ensure the centre provides the full range of therapy, rehabilitation, exercise, and relaxation services required to support people who need and benefit from hydrotherapy, ACT Health has consulted with:

• Health Care Consumers Association of the ACT
• Arthritis ACT
• Spinal ACT
• Council on the Ageing (COTA)
• Disability Reference Group
• Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ACT)
• Australian Physiotherapy Association ACT Branch
• People with Disabilities ACT Inc
• ACT Mental Health Consumers Representative (Network)
• Canberra Health Network
• Individual users
• disability groups and community groups.

In June 2023, ACT Health presented the proposed design to stakeholders and pool users to seek feedback on the final design.

Feedback from stakeholders and users has been incorporated into the final design and helped improve important features of the centre. This included providing two showers in the recess area adjacent to the pool, the accessible change room will be gender-inclusive, and additional seating around the pool.

Construction

Construction of the new Southside Hydrotherapy Pool has begun.

This is an important infrastructure project for people in Canberra’s south who rely on the benefits that hydrotherapy pools offer.

However, the construction may impact some users of the Tuggeranong Lakeside Leisure Centre.

From 31 July 2024 there will be a small temporary reduction to the floor space of the gym to help support adjacent construction of the hydrotherapy pool.

There may be at times some noise and vibrations from the construction work. The ACT Government has mitigation measures in place to ensure that this causes the least amount of disruptions as possible.

The creche at the leisure centre will temporarily be closed until December 2024 while a new facility is built. This will be completed before the hydrotherapy pool.

To support members during this closure period, creche services and access to pool and gym facilities are available at the Stromlo Leisure and Aquatic Centre and Gungahlin Leisure Centre.

The ACT Government is committed to providing leisure centre visitors with updates and notices throughout construction.

Find out more

If you have any questions about the construction of the new Southside Hydrotherapy Pool, you can contact healthcomms@act.gov.au.