Benchmarking energy performance of aquatic centres in Australia

Aquatic centres are popular recreational and sports facilities in Australia. An upsurge in the use of aquatic centres has seen such multipurpose indoor recreational facilities become focal points for community interaction. Around 1900 aquatic centres in Australia attract approximately 263 million visits per year, with 64% of Australians aged 15 and over participating there in physical activities for recreation or exercise. Aquatic centres accommodate a number of facilities such as swimming pools, gymnasiums, fitness centres, sports hall, cafés, crèche and offices which are distinct in their functional requirements. They have high-energy intensity and this presents a great challenge in terms of new construction and renovation. However, environmental design standards for aquatic centres have generally been overlooked due to the complex nature of these buildings. Currently there are no benchmark standards for aquatic centres in Australia, where as benchmarks for other building types such as offices, shopping centres, hotels and data centres are established leading to the development of national rating systems. This paper investigates the energy performance of aquatic centres in Victoria and discusses methodologies adopted to understand the inter-relationships between various factors that contribute to increased energy consumption in these buildings. The main aim is to identify the key factors contributing to high energy consumption of these buildings in order to develop new knowledge with respect to energy and indoor environmental quality.