By Ewen McRae
Brimbank council is calling on the community to support the revamp of St Albans Leisure Centre by signing a new pledge wall.
The wall, in the centre’s foyer, is a way for centre users, community members and the wider public to show their support for the development of the much-loved but now dated facility.
Councillors, state politicians and advocates for the upgrade were among the first to add their names to the wall, with mayor Margaret Giudice saying it would show governments and investors how much support there is for the project.
“We know our community is getting excited about our plans for St Albans Leisure Centre, and rightly so,” Cr Giudice said.
“The current leisure centre is old and tired and desperately needs to be replaced.
“We want to show the state and federal governments just how much support this project has in the community to help our efforts to attract investment.
“We’re planning to create a world-class health and wellbeing hub that will play a key role in delivering better social and health outcomes for the community – centred around a state-of-the art leisure and aquatic centre. It will be a landmark project for Brimbank and the region.”
The council has confirmed the new centre will include two water slides, a 51.5-metre pool, a leisure/learn-to-swim program pool, a warm-water program pool with adjoining spas, water play unit and splash pad, dry and steam saunas, a 24-hour gym, group fitness/function rooms and a wellness centre including a community program room.
The council estimates replacing the leisure centre with a health and wellbeing hub will cost more than $53 million. It has been lobbying state and federal governments to attract an investment of $25 million for the project.
