Commonwealth Games swimming pool’s dive tower completes
Another milestone has been reached at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Smethwick after the dive tower, which will be used for the diving competition at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, was completed at the end of last month.
The dive tower, which took five weeks to build, includes 31 separate English made, concrete pieces weighing 233 tonnes in total. The structure is 10m and took five people 2000 hours to build.
The diving competition at Birmingham 2022 will see men and women compete in the 1m and 3m springboard events and the 10m platform event, as well as the 3m springboard and 10m platform synchronised events.
For the first time at a Commonwealth Games, there will also be mixed synchronised 3m springboard and mixed synchronised 10m platform diving included on the programme.
The Sandwell Aquatics Centre will host swimming and para swimming at the Commonwealth Games from 29 July to 3 August and the diving competition from 4 August to 8 August. With 66 medal events in total set to be held at the facility, it will be the stage for more medal moments than any other Birmingham 2022 venue.
Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid said: “This is another key milestone in the construction of the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, the only brand new venue for Birmingham 2022. The progress on this facility is clear for everyone to see and it is remarkable how much has been achieved in the space of 12 months.
“The dive tower looks incredible and I’m sure its completion will really help to focus the minds of those divers looking to compete at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in 18 months’ time.”
The £73m project is being funded by several partners. Sandwell Council is contributing £27m, with £38.5m coming from the overall Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games budget.
A further £7.6m is funded by other external partners Sport England, Black Country LEP, Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) and University of Wolverhampton.
