Olympic Leisure Centre’s new direction

Published on 24 June 2025

Olympic Leisure exterior

On Monday 23 June 2025, we endorsed a new direction for Olympic Leisure Centre (OLC). While this will see the closure of the centre’s ageing aquatic facilities at the end of October this year, it will also transform the much-loved community facility into a hub for expanded health, fitness, community and library services.

Next steps

In our 2025/26 Budget we allocated $1.8 million towards a revitalised Olympic Leisure Centre. This will deliver:

  • a new 30-hour-a-week library service from March 2026 (replacing the existing 3-hours-per-week mobile library service)
  • expanded gym, fitness and indoor recreation offerings
  • additional community programming activities in partnership with community and service providers.

We also committed to:

  • providing free or subsidised access for 12 months to Ivanhoe Aquatic Centre for current aquatic users of Olympic Leisure Centre
  • exploring alternative options for the existing women’s-only programming
  • commission a feasibility study for a new zero-depth water play park in Heidelberg West.

Reasons for the change

The aquatic areas of the centre, added in the 1970s, has seen low and declining usage and are reaching the end of their useful life. Despite efforts to boost participation, the performance of the centre has not improved over time with attendance continuing to be well below industry standards.

A viability assessment of the Community Vision for Olympic Leisure Centre, which was created in 2021/22 through a co-design working group, established that we cannot deliver the vision in full. We acknowledge all the work of the co-design working group for their efforts and ideas.

We thank all members of the community for sharing their stories, ideas and concerns about this proposal. We look forward to evolving the centre with the needs of the community and will report back on the impact of the aquatic closure and any remaining service gaps in December 2026.

Reflection

Says Banyule Mayor Cr Elizabeth Nealy, “This has been a complex and challenging issue, and I want to acknowledge the strong connection many in our community have with Olympic Leisure Centre.”

“While we can’t deliver all aspects of the original vision, bringing a new library and expanded gym and health and wellbeing services to OLC is an exciting and much needed step forward”

“Council will work closely with everyone impacted by this decision to ensure a smooth transition for Olympic Leisure Centre.”

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