Olympia chiefs had “urgent” concerns over the state of the Dundee leisure centre just weeks after it had undergone a £6 million repair job.
The Courier can reveal how a Leisure and Culture Dundee (LCD) committee had “various concerns” about the condition of the beleaguered facility at the start of November.
That was just a few weeks after the Olympia had been handed back to the council after a closure lasting more than two years.
It raises further questions about the condition of the centre, parts of which have now been shut again due to separate issues with the infrastructure.
The details of the concerns raised in November only emerged after The Courier asked LCD why it had not published minutes of its most recent meetings on its website.
‘Detailed list of items urgently requiring action’ at Olympia just days after repairs
The minutes of the November 1 meeting, under the heading “Olympia update”, state: “The managing director advised that following a meeting of the health, safety and property committee which had taken place on site, various concerns had been raised.
“A detailed list of items urgently requiring action had been forwarded to the project team and until these had been completed satisfactorily, it was agreed the Leisure and Culture Dundee would not be in a position to take back responsibility for the facility.”
The minutes added: “Concern was expressed by the board regarding the impact a delay to opening would have on the goodwill of customers and the effect that this would have on income projections.”
The list of items needing “urgent” attention has not been confirmed but a spokesperson for LCD told The Courier: “The list of items referred to in the minute of November 1 2023 was completed satisfactorily prior to reopening.”
When contacted for comment, Councillor Will Dawson – chair of the committee that raised the concerns – referred The Courier to the LCD statement.
Robertson Construction Tayside Ltd had the contract for carrying out the repairs.
The firm declined to comment.
Getting information on Olympia ‘like wading through treacle’
Officials have confirmed the latest closure is not linked to the £6m of work as the issue has been discovered in a part of the flume structure that did not undergo repairs.
A timescale for the reopening of the leisure and toddler pools has not been confirmed, but there are fears it could take weeks, with a “programme of work” being identified by the council.
The leisure board is now coming under scrutiny for its lack of transparency after details of its discussions about the Olympia and other leisure facilities were not proactively published on its website.
Kevin Keenan, leader of the council’s Labour Group, said: “LCD should not be as secretive as it has been over the Olympia situation.
“There are many things relating to the Olympia fiasco, including around the lack of maintenance over the years, that should have been minuted and made publicly available that haven’t been.
“LCD needs to be more open and transparent about decisions it makes where it involves money coming out of the public purse.”
Fraser Macpherson, Lib Dem group leader, said: “The organisation has been very tawdry in making information available.
“When I was trying to get clarity on when Olympia was to reopen after two years of closure, it was like wading through treacle.
“LCD really needs to do better than it has been doing when it comes to transparency.”
Leisure chiefs: ‘We’re under no obligation to publish minutes of meetings’
It is the second time LCD has had to be pressed to publish minutes of its meetings.
In November, several months’ worth of minutes appeared on the LCD website after The Courier had sent a Freedom of Information request to the organisation, asking for copies of them.
A spokesperson for LCD said: “Minutes from our board meetings are published and the latest are available on our website, although Leisure and Culture Dundee is under no obligation to publish minutes of any trustee meetings online.”
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