The Olympia Leisure Centre was a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

History

The facility was built on an infilled dock. The facility opened on 15 July 1974. The facility reopened on 28 August 1991 as the Olympia. Operation of the pool transferred from Dundee City Council to Dundee Leisure, a charitable trust, in 2006. The facility closed in 2013, having been replaced with the new Olympia Leisure Centre, and was subsequently demolished. The

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was built where the pool stood previously. In 2021, a mural was created by Cobalt Collective outside the V&A depicting the pool.

Facilities

Following the 1991 refurbishment, the Centre had four pools. The main pool area had a "beach" entrance where it gradually approached zero depth and also included

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, a rapid river, whirlpool, and a hot tub. There was also a diving pool, children's pool, and a 25-metre training pool.

Incidents

On 29 September 2007 shortly before closing time, a seven-year-old boy who could not swim drowned in the

wave pool A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres. History T ...

after becoming separated from the two older children he was playing with. After being reported missing, his body was found half-an-hour later underneath the pool covers. An investigation by the

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...

found that the boy drowned in a blind spot and that lifeguards had not received adequate training on identifying blind spots and ensuring the pool was fully supervised. The operators of the pool, Dundee Leisure, were fined £40,000 following the investigation. A temporary lifeguarding station was established until the wall that created the blind spot was knocked down. During the demolition of the building in January 2014, the roof partially collapsed on top of an excavator. The operator escaped unharmed.

References

{{Dundee Swimming venues in Scotland 1974 establishments in Scotland 2013 disestablishments in Scotland Sports venues in Dundee Sports venues completed in 1974 Sports venues demolished in 2013 Defunct sports venues in Scotland