City of Delta takes plunge with $130 million aquatic centre plan | Daily Hive

Not the final detailed design; December 2024 preliminary concept of the new Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre at Winskill Park. (Dialog/City of Delta)

Last month, just before Christmas, the City of Delta approved a preliminary schematic design outlining the scope and size of the new, expanded Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre, which will completely replace the existing facility.

The new facility will be built at Winskill Park — on the east side of the park, directly fronting 56 Street, and immediately north of the existing east baseball field.

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Currently, the existing aquatic centre is located at the southern end of the park, just south of the centre baseball field.

By building the new aquatic centre at a different area of the park, this enables the existing facility to remain operational during construction, until the new facility is ready for public use.

winskill aquatic and fitness centre delta

Site of the existing Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre in Delta. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Site of the existing Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre in Delta. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre Winskill Park Delta

Not the final detailed design; December 2024 preliminary concept of the new Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre at Winskill Park. (Dialog/City of Delta)

Spanning a total building floor area of about 90,000 sq ft, the new two-storey facility will feature a 10-lane, 25-metre lap swimming pool, a four-lane teaching pool, a leisure pool with a lazy river and water slide, and sauna, hot tub, and cold plunge pools, as well as a gymnasium, a fitness gym, multi-purpose rooms, and space for Boys-Girls Club South Coast.

The combined surface area of the swimming pools will be 14,000 sq ft — twice the size of the pools in the existing facility. Additionally, the 6,000 sq ft fitness gym in the new facility will be double the size of the current one.

“This is an exciting stage as we begin to see the community’s vision for this facility take shape,” said Delta Mayor George V. Harvie in a statement.

“A project of this scale involves balancing a range of community interests, and Council is encouraged to see so many of the features prioritized by residents and user groups reflected in the design of the new aquatic and fitness centre, as well as in the proposed layout for the surrounding park.”

Not the final detailed design; December 2024 preliminary concept of the new Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre at Winskill Park. (Dialog/City of Delta)

In order to accommodate the new aquatic centre complex, Winskill Park will be reconfigured, with the existing treed area at the western end of the park replaced with two new baseball fields, including one relocated field and one net gain field. Upon completion, there will be four baseball fields, plus the retainment of the existing turf soccer field at the north end of the park.

The footprint of the existing aquatic centre building and some of the adjacent green spaces at the south side of the park will be turned into a significantly expanded surface vehicle parking lot to accommodate the expected increased visitation demand to the new aquatic centre and the park’s improved baseball fields and other amenities. The number of parking stalls serving the aquatic centre will grow from the current 140 stalls to up to 250 to 275 stalls.

A community plaza within the centre of Winskill Park will front the expanded parking lot, and provide the main entrance into the new aquatic centre. A grand staircase from this plaza will lead to a large outdoor public space on a lower rooftop of the new building.

There will also be new tree plantings to offset the tree removals made for this project.

Comparison of the existing and future pool sizes at Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre. (Dialog/City of Delta)

Not the final detailed design; December 2024 preliminary concept of the new Winskill Aquatic and Fitness Centre at Winskill Park. (Dialog/City of Delta)

With City Council’s approval of the preliminary schematics, detailed design of the project will begin in early 2025. The municipal government is working with architectural firm Dialog and landscape architectural firm Van der Zalm & Associates.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2025.

The entire project carries a $130 million budget, including $120 million for the new facility and the demolition of the existing facility, and $10 million for the reconfiguration of the park space, including the new sports fields and amenities.

In early 2024, the municipal government kicked off the process of planning a new replacement aquatic centre, as the existing facility, now approaching half a century in age, no longer meets the growing needs of Delta’s population.

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