Midway through the 2000s, builders secured the tiles on the walls and floor of Trinity’s swimming pool with a substandard product – a mistake that has gone on to plague the students and gym goers who frequent the Sports Centre and that came to a head after the coronavirus pandemic emptied campus.
The builders’ mistake became apparent in 2009: tiles were loosening, and the Sports Centre was forced to splash out cash for the first in the steady stream of partial repairs that have followed since.
More repairs came in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016, fixing both side walls, the shallow and deep end walls of the pool and part of the deep end floor.
Now the Sports Centre has deemed the pool unsafe and closed it indefinitely, waiting for specialists to come in and figure out how to best repair the majority of the deep end floor, the rest of the deep end wall and the full pool deck.
In the meantime, Trinity’s sports clubs that use the pool, time and time again, have had to deal with the mistakes made during the installation of the pool’s tiles.
Various clubs that rely on the swimming pool for their activities confirmed to The University Times that this issue which has led to the pool’s closure is not a recent development.
A number of clubs have spoken to The University Times about the frequent disruptions the pool has caused them and their years-long attempts to have the pool finally repaired.
Cara Kindlon, Dublin University Swimming and WaterPolo Club (DUSC) girls captain, revealed that after having reviewed old committee emails, complaints about the issue have been made by the club since at least 2013.
The situation with the pool has been a constant source of disruption for clubs who use it in this past year in particular. Damages have only been exacerbated with clubs reporting multiple instances of short-term fixes being required.
Matthieu Proffit, last year’s captain of Dublin University Triathlon Club (DUTC) said that they encountered inconveniences at the beginning of the second semester last year after matting was put in place to prevent tiles which tended to detach from popping off, and lanes were half-closed while short-term repairs were being made.
“The two middle lanes were unusable for sport use”, said Proffit: “There was no way to do a tumble turn or even a regular turn for a while and that was the main problem for us during the second half of the year.”
DUSC also expressed frustration with these “quick fixes” such as placing down mats to cover loose tiles.
The swimming pool will be closed indefinitely due to damage to the majority of the deep end floor, the rest of the deep end wall and the full pool deck.
“Our goalies were hindered in play as the coverings were inside the nets”, Kindlon said. “Also whenever we did sprints in training up and down the pool it was awkward for our players to swim as these coverings got in the way of turning and holding onto the wall which squished our players together.”
DUSC were plagued by damages to the pool over the past year, citing several instances to The University Times in which disruption of their activities due to short-term remedial works of loose tiles caused “frustration” and “embarrassment” for their club.
In an email Kindlon said that: “When our training began again at the beginning of the first semester we were not able to use the full pool as one lane was closed off due to a broken tile on the floor.”
“This meant we could not train properly, and gave a bad first impression to incoming first years looking to join our team. It wasn’t until the end of September that this issue was fixed.”
“We have been led to believe that this delay in getting the tiles fixed was due to the financial costs involved”, Kindlon added.
A few months later in December, DUSC were nearly forced to cancel a waterpolo match against an American university team after the Sports Centre notified them that, due to a broken tile, the middle two lanes would need to be sectioned off for repairs. DUSC were told that the repairs would not be completed in time for the competition against the American university on January 7th.
“We pointed out to the Sports Centre that this would be extremely embarrassing on an international level should we have to cancel this match. Thankfully the Sports Centre covered the tiles in a way that we could still put the goals in and the match went ahead”, Kindlon told The University Times.
This fix, however, proved to be short-lived as less than a month later the club received an email from the Sports Centre informing them that “the floor has been broken” and that the pool floor could not be dropped meaning they could not use the entire pool to train.
When DUSC asked the Sports Centre when the problem would be repaired, they were told “they have no information”.
“We were forced then to postpone varsities which caused increased expenses to competing teams to cancel their accommodation. When we did host varsities the turnout was less than expected due to players not being able to afford to travel up on the new dates”, said Kindlon.
With the swimming pool having significantly worsened since the closure of facilities due to the coronavirus pandemic, serious repairs to the pool, rather than short term remedies, can no longer be avoided.
In an email statement to The University Times, Head of Sport & Recreation in Trinity Michelle Tanner said: “It’s been a very difficult and long journey dealing with the latent defects in the construction of the pool tank and deck areas”.
“Avoiding disruption to our clubs, students and members, and ensuring their safety has been a priority throughout”.
“We are currently in progress of arranging for a specialist contractor to do some temporary repairs so we can get the pool open asap”, she added.
Tanner did not specify when these temporary repairs would be completed, nor how long they would last.
“I wish this issue had been resolved pre-COVID which has undoubtedly created more challenges”, Tanner said. “This is not an ideal situation and we will do our best to limit the impact on student sport (clubs and recreation) and our college community”.
“We appreciate the frustration shared by all. Irrespective of the unavoidable tile issues, our pool has always been maintained safely to best standard possible, the water quality for instance is excellent and our programmes have been very popular. It is a vital part of our student and customer offer. Swimming is one of the top national physical activities (pre-COVID) and an important life skill”, Tanner added.
Jemil Saidi, chair of Dublin University Central Athletics Club (DUCAC) assured that should the swimming pool facilities not be open by the start of the first semester, DUCAC will do their best to find external facilities for clubs who rely on it.
“DUCAC and Trinity Sport will ensure that those clubs still have their activities and their training sessions in the academic year whilst this is going on so if that means seeking external sites or paying for them to be on external sites, we will ensure that the clubs are looked after”.
Clubs that use Trinity’s swimming pool are less optimistic about the news, however. Kindlon said that, “although we believe this is great that DUCAC would be willing to support us to locate pool hours elsewhere, even this would hinder us as a club”.
Kindlon explained that as a “high standard team” it would be difficult to find a pool which would offer the same facilities (goals, balls, frequent training times) to the level they require. It would also be difficult, Kindlon emphasised, as a college swimming club located in the City Centre to commute to the nearest adequate facilities, those being either UCD’s pool or the National Aquatic Centre.
“These commutes out of the City Centre would inevitably end in us losing valuable players and commitment to the club especially with Swim Ireland’s COVID-19 restrictions on carpooling. Our team members would be increasing unnecessary public transport”, Kindlon said.
Dublin University Canoe and Kayak Club (DUCK) also expressed disappointment with the news in a statement to The University Times: “We as a club are disappointed that we were not informed about the issue. The pool is essential for running our club successfully and in a safe manner as it allows for a safe environment in which to practice safety techniques.”
“We will need to put a lot of thought into reorganising our plans if it isn’t available to us”, DUCK added.
