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Devastated by the flood event of February 2022, the Lismore Memorial Baths has reopened following a $5 million repair project, with locals again enjoying the much-loved facility.

Reopened just before Christmas - earlier than had been expected - the facility has had to adopt reduced opening hours and patron capacity while working to become fully staffed and operational by the end of this month.

Explaining the effort to get the pool open prior to Christmas, Lismore City Council’s Manager Active and Liveable Community, Tony Duffy advised “we were busy recruiting and training staff as well as ensuring all the relevant systems and services were online to be able to open.

“As every business knows, recruiting staff is highly competitive at the moment and finding people with the skills required to run a facility like this safely and professionally has come with challenges.

“We anticipate we will be at full operating capability by January but in the meantime, we knew the community would value having the facility open before Christmas, even at reduced hours.”

Currently the Baths are open seven days a week from 11am to 5pm with a maximum of 150 people at any one time to ensure the safety of swimmers, with Duffy noting “we managed to employ a small number of people who we have trained as lifesavers, with more starting in the New Year, but we know how desperately people want a swim so we decided to open before all staff are in place.”

“As more staff come on board and are trained … we will also expand the offerings from the kiosk, which will initially only sell a limited range of snacks, drinks and ice creams.”

During the repair work - funded under the Australian and NSW Government’s Community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package - all pools were drained and cleaned, bathroom amenities, including showers, were restored, and damaged roofing, ceiling and solar panels replaced.

With the facility reopening on a 31-degree day, Lismore City Mayor, Steve Krieg stated “I know many people have been eagerly waiting for the Baths to reopen and it was important to Council to ensure our community had access to the facility over the Christmas holidays.

“It has been a significant project to bring the facility back online, albeit with an initial period of reduced operating capability.

“I would like to thank everyone who worked hard to open early, and I especially thank the community for their patience.

“Council prioritised the Bath’s rebuild for a summer reopening because we know how important the facility is for the overall health and well-being of our community. It also marks a major milestone in Council’s determination to rebuild our city.

“We will celebrate the Baths being open to full capacity … with a free Community Day in late January.”

Duffy went on to state “I would like to thank Council’s Managing Contractor, Bennett Constructions, for the work they put into getting the pool ready for summer, it really was a herculean effort.”

Images: The reopened Lismore Memorial Baths. Credit: Lismore City Council.

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