By Glen Atwell
CASEY manager for city living Richard Amon gave guests at last week’s Cranbourne Chamber of Commerce dinner a virtual tour of the soon-to-be-opened Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre (CALC).
At the Wednesday night gathering, Mr Amon provided chamber members with a detailed overview of the $37 million state of the art project facility, due to open mid-next year, and said the CALC would be much different from the Casey ARC in Narre Warren.
“At the Cranbourne facility every user will be able to see the swimming pool, from the gym, sauna, spa and group exercise area,” he said. “There will be two entrances to the CALC, one dedicated for school groups to prevent human traffic jams at the main entrance.
“School groups will even have their own change facilities at the Cranbourne centre,” Mr Amon said.
The CALC will feature a cutting-edge water entertainment area instead of the wave pool which is the centre piece of the Casey ARC.
A thrill-seekers’ water slide, a whirlpool and a zero-depth water park will headline the entertainment offerings at the Cranbourne pool.
Solar panels on the exterior of the facility, and state-of-the-art water efficiency technologies will also make the CALC one of Australia’s most environmentally friendly water parks.
Casey mayor Janet Halsall recently visited the CALC construction site and was pleased to report that works were still on schedule.
“I have visited the CALC on a monthly basis to view construction progress and it has been wonderful to see the structure of the pools, walls and car park take shape at such a speedy pace,” she said.
The 50-metre pool deck is 95 per cent cast, and the leisure water area excavation has also been completed. The walls for the learn to swim pool are ready to be poured and the whirlpool and toddlers’ pool have both been excavated.
Steel work for the creche area and roofing has commenced, while steel work over the spa and sauna area is complete and the concrete floor has been installed.
