One hydroslide will soon become three at Splash Palace with work currently underway replacing the old one from the 1980s.

Invercargill City Council aquatic services manager Stephen Cook said the current hydroslide was one of Splash Palace’s most popular facilities but it was nearing the end of its life.

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“The existing slide was originally installed at Coldstream Pool in Queens Park in November 1987. In 1997 the now-current Splash Palace facility opened, and sections of the slide were moved to the new site to form the slide as well know it today.”

He said regulars to the pool will have noticed the brightly coloured slide sections arriving on site, being craned into place over the last few weeks.

Artist impression of the new three hydro slide. photo: supplied

“Our new slides come all the way from Turkey and will be a big step up from what we currently offer.

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“Not only are we moving from one slide to three, but each of our new slides are longer than the old one.”

The three new slides feature two shorter body slides coloured green and blue (69 metres and 79 metres in length, respectively), and a 101 metre long raft slide featuring the large sphere section (coloured red and yellow).

The foundations were completed earlier in the year, and used more than 230 cubic metres of concrete, and 40 tonnes of reinforcing steel.

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Stephen said It was a fairly complex project requiring quite a significant amount of infrastructure to be built to hold the weight of the three slides, plus allow for the volume of users going up and down.

As with many large projects, especially operating throughout the last year with the challenges posed by Covid-19, the hydroslide redevelopment has required some changes to the budget as a result.

“The original budget approved by Council was $2.9m and we have increased it as a result of a contractor variation on the foundations and ground conditions, bringing the total cost to $3.2m.”

At this stage they are aiming for a mid-April opening, but this will be confirmed later this month.

New Big Hydroslide Project Underway

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