Ceduna is a small regional council in rural South Australia with 3500 residents. Located along the Great Australian Bight, the area has a thriving aquaculture industry, and a history of fatal shark attacks. A community working group worked alongside Council to create a safe swimming enclosure for locals.
| Perimeter: 148m | Barrier type: SSA Barrier 7.2 |
| Installed date: 2018 | Seasonal Installation: Removed for Winter |
With no public swimming pool, building a safe swimming enclosure in the ocean had been a long-held goal of the Ceduna community for nearly 16 years. Working through the council, funding was finally secured in 2018 for a swimming enclosure that met all of the community’s criteria. Safety, accessibility, tamper-proof and catering to a range of ages and abilities were all requirements.
With funding secured, the Council approached us with their initial engineering drawings and requested we quote on the project. Working with the council we helped streamline the original concept so that it was fit for purpose. Most importantly, this meant recommending some design changes that drastically reduced the cost of delivering the enclosure but didn’t impact the amenity or reduce the features for the community.
As a starting point, we worked closely with the Council to understand their requirements and establish a specification that suited them. Staying within budget was a key concern, and in this area, we were able to make recommendations that simplified the pilings requirements, without any loss of structural integrity. This was a key step in reducing the overall upfront cost of the safe swimming enclosure.
We listened to the requirement for the enclosure to be as tamper-proof as possible. Responding to this need, we sourced tamper-proof fixings, added additional layers of security, and up-specced the gauge of certain materials to address this concern. Happily, the enclosure to date has been relatively free of vandalism.
Finally, the enclosure had to be resilient enough to deal with the strong storms that come in off the Great Australian Bight. This was easily accommodated with our durable component choices, and design that responds to tidal movements, ocean surges and swell without putting undue stress on any one area or aspect of the enclosure.
Ceduna is a relatively remote location, so when it came to the installation, we carefully planned for any unexpected eventualities; but more importantly, we utilized locally available expertise to help in the deployment of the enclosure. This meant that when our install team left Ceduna, there were people in the community who had knowledge of, and a sense of ownership over the enclosure.
And finally, all safe swimming enclosures require regular inspection and maintenance. Our system is designed to be easy to deploy, easy to remove for cleaning, and if the need arises, easy to fix. All of which has kept the cost of maintaining the swimming enclosure low for the council.
Both technically & practically the Barrier enclosing the Ocean Pool has been a success. But more importantly it has delivered:
