The 3 New Pools project in Brisbane marked the delivery of the first new public pools to be built in Brisbane in over 18 years. Fulfilling an election promise made by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, 3 new Brisbane City Council (BCC) Aquatic Centres were built in the Brisbane suburbs of Runcorn, Upper Mt Gravatt, and Colmslie. The extended period of low rainfall and severe water restrictions which were in place during both the design and the construction phases of these projects added an additional layer of complexity for the BCC led design team to overcome.

A major component of the design brief was to embody a comprehensive range of environmentally sustainable design elements and materials, focusing on future ease of maintenance. The use of deep section laminated timber beams was identified very early in the design process as a means of providing an efficient and low maintenance structural system to span over the salt water laden indoor pool enclosures.

Hyne Timber was approached to provide technical advice, particularly in relation to the challenges presented with on-site assembling and connection of the major structural elements which included beams and columns – many of these being nearly 1 metre in depth.
The final design methodology adopted was the result of a close liaison between the project Architects, the Structural Engineers, the BCC Sustainable Design team, and Hyne Timber.