Hamilton library and pool upgrades on schedule

Hamilton councillors were given a tour of the work being undertaken at Waterworld. Photo / Facebook

The necessary upgrades for two key pieces of Hamilton's infrastructure are on schedule and set to reopen at the end of the year — Waterworld and the CBD library.

Waterworld has been closed since the end of January after the city council approved $10.8 million in funding for new pipes and flooring, among other upgrades last year.

The pool's current pipes had been weakening and were at a risk of failing.

Hamilton City Council Community Services Manager Debbie Lascelles said that the work has made pleasing progress.

"This week has seen installation of pipework around the 50m pool, pouring of concrete for raising of the poolside concourse, installation of the new fire system and associated electrical work. This week the new filters for the pools arrived, having been imported from the USA," Ms Lascelles said.

The council has been posting regular updates to its city pools' Facebook page and Ms Lascelles said the response from the public has been good.

"We've had great understanding and support from our customers on this project. We've been posting regular updates to the official Hamilton Pools Facebook page, including time-lapse video, and these updates have been very well received with plenty of positive comments from our followers and customers — a good barometer of the attitude from the public toward this work." The pool is expected to re open in September or October.

The CBD library in Garden Place has been closed since November 2016 after earthquake issues were reported.

In September last year, council voted to spend $635,200 to undertake seismic upgrades to the four-storey library building which will bring it up to the required safety standards.

Ms Lascelles said the library work is also on schedule.

"This week the focus has been on reconstructing the interiors of the part of the building where work has been happening — for example lining of the walls, plumbing and electrical work. We are on schedule with this job, and planning for the re-entry to the Central Library is a key priority for the Hamilton City Libraries management team over the next few weeks."

The library reopens in September.

"The bulk of the work is occurring in back-of-house/staff-only areas, meaning customers will see little change when we reopen the Central Library. We are using the closure to also undertake two small renewals projects, replacement of the main entry door and new floor surfacing of our customer lift."

"We've had earthquake strengthening work done using special carbon fibre strips applied to the floor sections. We've also done some renovations to staff-only areas, including replacement of staff toilets and bathrooms, and we're also installing a Cardax security system which is a health and safety aspect for our staff and the security of the building."