History of Memorial Pool
Memorial Pool was opened in 1955 and is connected to the development of Memorial Park as a place of remembrance and recreation.
Following the Second World War, Memorial Park was established as a living memorial to honour people from Tauranga who lost their lives in service, while providing lasting benefits for the community through recreation and public facilities.
Memorial Pool reflected this purpose by creating opportunities for healthy recreation, swimming, and learn-to-swim education for Tauranga’s young people and future generations.
For more than 70 years, the pool has been an important part of Memorial Park and the city’s aquatic network. However, the facility no longer meets the needs of our growing city. It lacks the capacity, functionality, and range of aquatic spaces needed to support current and future community demand. Investigations have also identified significant water loss and ageing infrastructure, adding to the challenges of maintaining the facility.
Memorial Park Swimming Pool, 1969. Credit: Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo gcc-16213
Why Tauranga needs a new aquatic centre
The proposed Memorial Park Aquatic Centre is not simply a replacement of an ageing local pool. It is intended to address a wider city need by adding capacity, strengthening Tauranga’s aquatic network, and providing a broader range of facilities for a growing community.
No new major aquatic centre has opened in Tauranga since Baywave in 2005, when the city’s population was approximately 105,000. Since then, continued population growth has increased demand across the aquatic network, particularly for family and recreational swimming, hydrotherapy and rehabilitation, fitness, learn-to-swim programmes, and training for competitive aquatic sports. There is also growing demand for deep-water facilities, which are needed to support activities such as water polo, underwater hockey, advanced swim training, aquatic safety training, and other programmes that cannot be accommodated in shallow pools.
Strengthening Tauranga’s aquatic network
The city’s aquatic network currently relies heavily on a small number of facilities. This makes it vulnerable when a major pool closes for planned renewals, maintenance, or unexpected repairs.
For example, Baywave requires significant renewal work to its filtration, heating and ventilation systems, electrical infrastructure, roof, skylights, tiling and hydroslide structure. Planned closures are necessary to complete this work safely and efficiently, while an unexpected plant failure could create further disruption.
Other facilities across the network also face renewal, capacity or operational constraints. The project planning work has therefore identified a need for greater network resilience and less reliance on Baywave as Tauranga’s primary major aquatic centre.
The proposed Memorial Park Aquatic Centre would provide another significant facility on the city- side of the harbour, supported by smaller community pools across Tauranga. This network approach recognises the shape of the city, transport connections, population growth and the need to provide a variety of aquatic activities in accessible locations.
More than lane swimming
Different aquatic spaces serve different community purposes. A swimming lane cannot always be used effectively for learn-to-swim classes, family recreation, rehabilitation or hydrotherapy.
The proposed centre is being planned to provide opportunities for a wide range of users, including:
- children learning essential swimming and water-safety skills
- families and recreational swimmers
- older adults
- people participating in rehabilitation and hydrotherapy
- fitness and lane swimmers
- schools, clubs and aquatic-sport participants.
A dedicated learn-to-swim pool would support important water-safety and equity outcomes by providing the right depth, temperature, and environment for people to develop confidence and skills in the water. Purpose-built programme and hydrotherapy spaces would help address one of the largest gaps in the existing aquatic network, providing facilities designed for rehabilitation, therapeutic use, and a wider range of accessibility and community needs.
Indoor and outdoor aquatic spaces would also perform different roles. An outdoor swimming space would support family recreation and water play, provide additional lane capacity at busy times, and continue the long-standing outdoor swimming experience at Memorial Park. Indoor and outdoor leisure pools, and hydroslides would provide fun water activities for a range of ages and abilities.
FAQs
Tauranga's population continues to grow, and the city's existing aquatic facilities are under increasing pressure. The new aquatic centre is being designed to provide modern aquatic infrastructure that can better serve current and future community needs. It is expected to support a wider range of activities, including lane swimming, aquatic sports, learn-to-swim programmes, hydrotherapy, rehabilitation, fitness, and recreational water play.
The new facility will also provide improved accessibility, increased capacity and more flexibility for schools, clubs, families and community groups. By investing in a modern aquatic centre, Council is creating a long-term community asset that will support health, wellbeing, water safety and recreation for decades to come.
Memorial Park has been identified as a suitable location for a major aquatic facility because it:
- is centrally located and accessible
- replaces an existing aquatic facility
- is already established as a recreation destination
- provides opportunities to connect the aquatic centre with the wider park
- supports the planned network of major and local aquatic facilities across Tauranga.
The proposed centre would continue the original purpose of Memorial Park as a living memorial that provides enduring community benefit through recreation, health and connection.
It would also contribute to a wider recreation destination on the Te Papa peninsula and create a significant public amenity for residents from across Tauranga.
Council considered a range of options for the future of aquatic provision at Memorial Park. These options were assessed against factors such as asset condition, community demand, functionality, accessibility, long-term costs, and value for money.
Technical investigations identified that while repairs and upgrades could address some immediate issues, they would not fully resolve the limitations of an ageing or inadequately sized facility. They would not provide the pool capacity needed to support Tauranga's growing community over the long term, nor deliver the quality of facility, range of services, and user experience needed to meet current and future community needs. A new aquatic centre would provide a larger, more modern facility that can better meet the city's needs now and into the future.
Yes. The Memorial Park Aquatic Centre has been shaped by years of community and stakeholder engagement, including Long-term Plan consultations in 2018, 2021 and 2024, needs assessments, feasibility studies, stakeholder interviews, Bay Venues user forums, ongoing aquatic stakeholder engagement, and a community survey. Community feedback has helped inform decisions about aquatic demand, facility features, investment priorities and future service provision.
Most recently, Council's 2024 community survey on the aquatic facility received more than 5,200 responses, with 73% supporting additional aquatic facilities in Tauranga and 71% supporting the planned investment of $80 million - $105 million in the Memorial Park Aquatic Centre. Learn-to-swim facilities and an indoor 50-metre pool were identified as key priorities.
Council has committed to ensuring the memorial significance of Memorial Pool is recognised in the new aquatic centre.
At its meeting on 12 May 2026, Council resolved that demolition of the existing Memorial Pool would be subject to the detailed design of the new Memorial Park Aquatic Centre including "a clear and meaningful connection to the living memorial in the existing Memorial Park pool, extending that memorial to include veterans of all wars."
The detailed design process will consider how this connection can be reflected within the new aquatic centre and continue the memorial legacy of the site for future generations. This work will be informed by engagement with key stakeholders, including the Tauranga RSA and other groups with an interest in the memorial history and significance of the site. During engagement in July 2026, the RSA expressed a preference for World War II to be the focus of any memorial elements. The existing plaque at Memorial Pool, which recognises local servicemen who lost their lives during the war, will be retained in the new aquatic facility.
Specific commemorative features are still being developed and will be confirmed through the design process.
While upgrades could address some issues, they would not fully overcome the limitations of an ageing facility that is no longer fit for purpose in terms of its size, functionality, range of services, and overall user experience. The existing pool lacks key features, including sufficient deep-water space and the capacity to accommodate growing community demand. A new aquatic centre provides the opportunity to deliver modern amenities, greater accessibility, increased capacity, and a longer-term solution that better meets community needs. The existing pool isn’t suitable to incorporate into the new facility.