In August 2019, Trinity Sport and Estates and Facilities drew up an action plan for fixing Trinity’s damaged swimming pool. A year on, nothing tangible has been done to solve the problem.
In the 2000s, the pool tiles were secured with substandard product, meaning the required repairs are likely extensive and costly. Repairs were carried out in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016 – but when Trinity was closed due to a national lockdown, the pool degenerated even further and has now been closed indefinitely.
It is only human to bury one’s head in the sand. But as with so much else, the current pandemic has changed everything, including highlighting the extent of the problems with the swimming pool.
While short-term repairs will likely lead to the pool re-opening soon – or at least at some point in the next few months – the long-term issues have now reached boiling point.
The sports centre provides a brilliant service for students and its patrons. It’s home to many sports clubs and is the touchstone for sport in general in the college – fixing the swimming pool is therefore imperative.
So long as the swimming pool remains in disrepair, members of the Sports Centre are being ripped off and deprived of the full benefits of a membership that they are, after all, paying for.
It is an extremely precarious time for College and for students and for the economy at large. The construction industry will be hit hard, in particular, as we face into a recession. But that does not mean that College can shirk its responsibility on this issue.
The failure to fix the pool is not only unfair to the students who use the sports centre – it’s also putting Trinity’s reputation on the line. Given that members of the public can take out memberships in Trinity’s sports centre, the potential for embarrassment when paying users discover they can’t use the pool is very real to College.
At the very least, members of the sports centre must be informed exactly what the problems are, what the extent of those problems are and how much it will cost to fix them.
Now is not the time for College to develop a reputation for sweeping such problems under the rug.
