The Adelaide Aquatic Centre, home to Australia’s largest wooden beams by weight and volume, will open “just in time” for the Australia Day long weekend. That is according to South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who revealed there is huge excitement ahead of the grand opening: “There will be a ballot to allow some lucky South Australians to be the first to experience all the fun and features of this world‑class centre,” he said.
Wood Central understands that the $135 million facility contains more than 300,000 tiles, over a kilometre of underground plumbing, four million litres of water across six pools, and 52 timber beams and columns — some up to 37 metres long — installed last year across the various pool halls.
“The weight of the beams and columns is over 143 tonnes combined,” according to the South Australian Department of Infrastructure, which last year revealed that one of the beams, escorted through the streets of Adelaide, is the largest wooden beam in the country, weighing 10,282kg and measuring 22.85 cubic metres.
In July, Wood Central spoke to Tyson Infanti, Australia’s Director of Business Development for Hasslacher Timber Australia — supplier of the wooden beams — who said the superstructure comprises 324 cubic metres of glulam (used in load‑bearing beams and columns), 108 cubic metres of cross‑laminated timber (or 797 square metres of surface area), and 3,130 square metres of prefabricated ceiling modules for noise insulation.
“At its production site in Hermagor in Austria, the Hasslacher Group produced the largest glulam beams ever to be installed in Australia,” Infanti said. “The gigantic beams measured up to 37.1 metres in length, boast a cross‑section of 2,200mm x 280mm, a volume of 22.85 cubic metres and a weight of over 10 tonnes.”
“We shipped the timber construction elements via the Zeebrugge port in Belgium,” Infanti said. “They then reached Melbourne via RORO ship, from where they were transported to the construction site in Adelaide using articulated flatbed trailers. Special permits were required for the transport, which was only made possible with close collaboration with our experienced transport partners.”
Amongst the centre’s headline attractions are four towering waterslides — each standing 13 metres high, sending riders twisting at speeds of up to 11 metres per second, with a combined length of 355 metres, weaving in and out of the building before finishing in the indoor splash zone. Meanwhile, transparent sections and coloured lighting effects add to the experience, alongside more than 40 interactive splash features, including a rain curtain, a five‑metre‑high eagle ray, giant jellyfish, and water jets.
Inside, the 50‑metre pool, warm‑water and rehabilitation pool, and dedicated learn‑to‑swim pools are filled and undergoing final testing, while landscaping works continue across surrounding community spaces. In total, more than 355 new trees — some cultivated locally since 2023 — are being planted to green the site and complement its Park Lands setting.
In 2024, Wood Central reported that the state was emerging as a hub for timber buildings, with Premier Malinauskas committed to “a smart, sustainable and inclusive path” to build “taller and more complex timber buildings.” Already, Adelaide developers are looking to mass timber for construction, with the city’s iconic Adelaide Oval turning to mass timber to build a new hotel connected to the stadium. Whilst veteran Adelaide developer – Barrie Harrop – last year floated plans to build one of the world’s tallest timber hotels in the centre of Adelaide as part of a $300 million investment in tourism infrastructure in South Australia.
