Commencing the design phase of the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre, Cardno provided a team of structural and civil engineers and draftspersons for the delivery of the design and documentation phases of the project. The structural team also provided construction phase engineering services.

Throughout the design and construction phases, Cardno liaised closely with the architect, Mantric Architecture, to ensure that the requirements of Glen Eira City Council were achieved at all times. Given this project was the largest ever undertaken by the Council, smooth communication was an essential requirement.

The complex was built on the site of a former outdoor pool, with the footprint of the new complex allowing for a portion of the old pool excavation to be incorporated into the building’s basement plantroom.

One particularly interesting and challenging section of the project was the steel framed main entry area which appears separated from the main building by a continuous skylight, while the entry ceiling is a three-dimensional fibreglass feature sculpture. The project also included an elliptical steel ring truss of varying height that supports the fabric roof covering the tower for the two waterslides and leisure pool below.

The façade consists of a number of varying materials and alignments, with a number of the façade components and framing inclined, including pre cast concrete bracing walls and a 23-metre spanning transfer truss at a 20 degree incline over one of the pools.