BEATTY PARK LEISURE CENTRE CONSERVATION PLAN Vincent Street, North Perth September 2007 for the Town of Vincent Job No. 04183 With Robin Chinnery, Historian Cover Image: Original entrance to the Beatty Park Leisure Centre. Image courtesy Town of Vincent. Page i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Town of Vincent commissioned this Conservation Plan to assist them in conserving and developing the Beatty Park Leisure Centre to assure its future. Apart from being a very important part of the Town and State’s heritage, it is the Town of Vincent’s most significant trading enterprise. A separate conservation plan will be commissioned for the remainder of the park. The pool and spectator stands were developed in 1962 for the VII th British Empire and Commonwealth Games and substantial additions were made in 1993-4, changing the focus of the venue towards leisure rather than a venue for training elite athletes. The whole of the place is a busy working facility and there is a need to upgrade the 1962 facilities in particular. The Town is considering a major refurbishment and upgrade of the stands and pool area to meet with contemporary standards and expectations, and this prospect precipitated the need for a conservation plan. The 1962 structure is under- utilised with, for example, only a fraction of the stand seating being used, and there are some re-planning possibilities to consider to make the operation as a whole perform better, which may give rise to the consideration of alternative uses for some of the spaces under the 1962 stands. As the place is included in the Register of Heritage Places and registered as Beatty Park and Beatty Park Leisure Centre , the Conservation Plan is intended to assist the Town of Vincent and the Heritage Council of Western Australia to assess the impact of proposed change on cultural heritage values and the conservation of the place. The scope of this plan is limited to the Beatty Park Leisure Centre and its immediate environs at the western end of the reserve. A second conservation plan will focus on the parklands to the east. The Conservation Plan is recognised as the primary guiding document for the conservation and future use of places of cultural heritage significance. The first objective of the Conservation Plan is to set out what is of cultural heritage significance in a place. The second objective is to ensure that all future decisions, in relation to maintenance, conservation and future development (with respect to the significant aspects of the place), are carried out with close regard to the retention of its significance. The future development of the place needs to be sensitive to its heritage values. Beatty Park and Beatty Park Leisure Centre was the 1,000 th place to be assessed and included in the State Register of Heritage places, in January 2004, and was included on a permanent basis in December of the same year. The extent to which it is required to be conserved is set out in this Conservation Plan. BEATTY PARK LEISURE CENTRE, VINCENT STREET, PERTH CONSERVATION PLAN SEPTEMBER 2007 Philip Griffiths Architects with Robin Chinnery Historian Page ii Study Area The study area is confined to the western end of Beatty Park bounded by Vincent Street, Swimming Avenue and Morriston Street and the carpark areas associated with the Beatty Park Leisure Centre. Historic Overview Beatty Park and Beatty Park Leisure Centre is a recreational reserve and leisure centre. Beatty Park , a portion of the original Reserve 884, gazetted 1890 (Local Board of Health - temporary), was developed as a recreational area by the City of Perth from c. 1905. Beatty Park Leisure Centre , originally named Perth Aquatic Centre, was built at the western portion of the park in 1962, by H. A. Doust, to designs by City of Perth Town Clerk, W. A. McI. Green and City Architect Milton Boyce, as the Aquatic Centre for the VII th British Empire and Commonwealth Games. The Aquatic Centre was upgraded, with additional leisure facilities, to designs by Peter Hunt Architect, for the City of Perth in 1993-94, and was renamed Beatty Park Leisure Centre . The names of the place are used in their correct historical context in the documentary evidence and throughout the remainder of the document the name Beatty Park Leisure Centre is adopted. Physical Evidence Beatty Park Aquatic Centre and Recreation Ground is sited north of the City of Perth and is bounded by Vincent and Charles Streets to the south and east, and Swimming Avenue and Morriston Street to the north and east. The site is a large rectangular plan, with the aquatic centre located on the western half of the site and recreation grounds on the eastern half of the site. Parking occupies a part of the site to the south of the aquatic centre and a large portion of the land to the east of the aquatic centre. There are mature plantings relating to the initial development of the recreation ground, the Inter-War period, others relating to the establishment of the Beatty Park Leisure Centre , and then more recently plantings relating to the development of the leisure centre and its car parking. The Beatty Park Leisure Centre part of the complex is a three storey brick, concrete, glazed tile, curtain wall, and aluminium sheet roofed swimming pool and stadium complex designed in the Late Twentieth Century International style. The aquatic centre part of the complex comprises a diving pool to the north-east, with grassed areas to either end of the pool, then the competition pool to the south-west. The pools are surrounded by a ‘U’ shaped spectators stand plan that captures the north-west, south- west and south-east sides. The spectators’ stand includes change rooms, the former BEATTY PARK LEISURE CENTRE, VINCENT STREET, PERTH CONSERVATION PLAN SEPTEMBER 2007 Philip Griffiths Architects with Robin Chinnery Historian Page iii main entry, and rooms that have been converted for alternative uses. The Beatty Park Leisure Centre of 1993-4 is the addition to the north-east of the original pool development. The Leisure Centre part of the development is a largely single storey concrete block, wall panel, painted structural steel, and Colorbond roofed swimming pool and stadium complex designed in the Late Twentieth Century Structuralist style. The accommodation includes a leisure pool, 25 metre pool, the original plant room from the 1962 works, slides, kiosk and administration. The original kiosk, caretaker’s residence and paddlers’ pool were removed to make way for this substantial addition. Condition and Authenticity The external landscape environment is generally well maintained and the mature trees generally in good condition. The internal landscape environment struggles to survive in a highly chlorinated environment and is generally in poor condition. The Beatty Park Leisure Centre portion of the Beatty Park Leisure Centre is well maintained at the ground floor level internally and in the pool areas. The exterior of the street frontages is in reasonable condition and the spectator stand seating (plats) and concourses at the upper levels are in fair to poor condition. The 1994 section of the Beatty Park Leisure Centre is well maintained and in good condition, although some of the fabric is showing signs of heavy usage. Overall Beatty Park Leisure Centre is in fair to good condition. Overall the place fairly reflects its value as both the Perth Aquatic Centre and its more recent role as Beatty Park Leisure Centre. The Beatty Park Leisure Centre ’s landscape context has been modified on numerous occasions, but retains some of its early plantings. The caretaker’s house, kiosk, part of the wading pool, and some other outbuildings of the Beatty Park Leisure Centre have been removed, while other buildings have been modified to suit the 1994 scheme. The change rooms and main entrance have also been altered. Notwithstanding these changes, the underlying fabric of the altered sections, the two remaining pools, and the upper levels of the spectator stands retain a high degree of authenticity. Overall Beatty Park Leisure Centre retains a moderate to high degree of authenticity. Cultural Heritage Significance of the Place Beatty Park Aquatic Centre, a swimming pool complex constructed in brick, curtain wall, and concrete, with a fibrous cement roof structure in the Late Twentieth Century International style and aquatic leisure centre complex constructed in steel and blockwork, BEATTY PARK LEISURE CENTRE, VINCENT STREET, PERTH CONSERVATION PLAN SEPTEMBER 2007 Philip Griffiths Architects with Robin Chinnery Historian Page iv with metal roofs in the Late Twentieth Century Structuralist style, in a park-like recreation ground setting, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: - Primary Significance The Beatty Park Leisure Centre was built as the aquatic centre for the VII th British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and was the first purpose built aquatic centre in Western Australia designed and built for international competition and one of three major projects undertaken by the City of Perth for the games, the first such international competition held in Perth and one of a number of very significant events in Western Australia’s Post World War II period; The Beatty Park Leisure Centre part of the Beatty Park Leisure Centre is a good example of the Late Twentieth Century International style applied to a major sporting facility; The place was designed by W. A. McI. Green, the redoubtable Town Clerk, City of Perth, Milton Boyce, City of Perth Architect, and Lionel H. Steenbohm, Director of Parks and Gardens,