The 2022 Parks and Leisure Australia National Awards of Excellence, and the winner of its Community Facility of the Year award, which recognises facilities demonstrating innovative features of design, development and operation, has been announced.
The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s Yawa Aquatic Centre was the prestigious winner for the Community Facility of the Year, awarded on 18 October at a Gala dinner in Melbourne.
All national finalists in this category showcased the work of parks and leisure professionals, and the enormous benefits they deliver to communities.
The Yawa Aquatic Centre previously won the regional award for Community Facility of the Year in June, which progressed the centre to the national awards.
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s nomination covered the building construction and the first six months of operations at Yawa.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council Mayor Cr, Anthony Marsh, said the centre was an extraordinary project that was many years in the making.
“We’re very proud of this fantastic community facility and those who work hard to make Yawa a place for everyone,” Mayor Marsh said.
“Yawa also houses many unique features, like 916 solar panels saving 400t of greenhouse gas per year, and 100,000L of rainwater captured to top up pools.
“This award is a massive credit to our team, who helped deliver this incredible community infrastructure project and to the previous Council for their leadership in getting this project off and running.”
Belgravia Leisure CEO, Nick Cox, said Belgravia was proud of the partnership with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and the success of Yawa.
“The local team has provided a range of innovative programs to meet local needs, and the response from the community has exceeded our expectations. Over the next 12 months and beyond we are excited to continue providing a high level of service to further engage the local community.”
At the time of nomination, 223,651 people had already walked through Yawa’s doors and over 4,100 members. 95 per cent of 196 ongoing jobs staff were also local to the Mornington Peninsula.
The aquatic centre boasts:
- 50m indoor pool
- Learn to Swim pool
- Warm water program pool
- Multi-purpose room for health and fitness classes
- Gymnasium
- High priority disability access
- Access ramps to the main pool, learn-to-swim pool and warm water program pool
- Wheelchair access to the spa within the warm water program pool
- Family change rooms for persons with a disability or special needs
- Wellness centre featuring consulting, steam and sauna rooms catering for specialist services such as massage and physiotherapy, relaxation, older adults and sports recovery
