Unley Pool's new electric pumphouse in Forestville Reserve
While it seems like a very worthwhile project to significantly reduce local greenhouse emissions, the project is likely to have some impacts that need to be managed, including loss of some open space, impacts on amenity and potential noise issues.
The City of Unley has lodged a development application with Planning SA for its upgrade and expansion of the plant room in the north-west corner of the Unley Swimming Center, to accommodate a new electrified water heating and pumping system.
In February 2025, the City of Unley received a $1,055,000 grant from the Australian Government’s Community Energy Upgrades Fund to replace the currently gas-fired pool heating boilers with energy-efficient electric air-cooled heat pumps, to be powered by new roof-top solar PV arrays.
According to the Unley Council's media release from April last year, the pool is currently responsible for about 85% of the Council's corporate gas usage and associated carbon emissions for heating the pool water. This is about 190 tonnes of CO₂e emissions per year (and about 5% of the Council's overall carbon corporate carbon footprint, if my calculations are correct). The aim of the electrification project is to make the facility a net-zero emitter and significantly reduce the Council's overall greenhouse emissions.
The redevelopment would involve demolition of the existing plant room and rebuilding it, probably over an expanded footprint, which would be likely to take in some part of the small triangle of grass on the northern side of Brownhill Creek, between the creek and the current pumphouse.
Such an expansion may be unavoidable due to the additional airflow requirements of an air-cooled heat pump system, but it is unclear at this point whether there might also be a plan for additional change-rooms or club-room facilities as well. This may influence the community's level of support for the project.
Since both the Pool and the Reserve sit on Community Land, they are subject to the City of Unley's Community Land Management Plan under the Local Government Act. There is therefore a question of whether such an extension of the pool facility should be considered a change of land use from open access to restricted access, therefore requiring a public consultation process under the LGA Act.
Another aspect which may trigger sentiment for some level of community consultation is the potential impact on visual amenity, due to its close proximity to the section of Brownhill creek in the Reserve, which incidentally, is soon to be significantly re-landscaped by the Catchment Board for flood mitigation. Plans which might show the location and appearance of the new pump-house boundary walls haven't been publicly released.
Another issue which may be of interest to locals is the potential for increased noise from the fans used in a heat pump system compared to the current gas-boilers.
Currently the grassy triangle next to the pump house is cut off from the rest of the Forestville Reserve and very infrequently used. Recently some residents have argued for its re-activation as a leisure space, possibly through relocation of the current footbridge, which is going to be replaced as part of the Catchment Board's creek channel flood mitigation works.
While it seems like a very worthwhile project to significantly reduce local greenhouse emissions, the project is likely to have some impacts that may need to be managed, including loss of some open space, impacts on amenity by the creek, and potential noise issues. On past showing, many Forestvilleans are likely to be in favour of climate-protecting initiatives, and it will be interesting to see how the City of Unley reaches out to the community with information and involvement.
