City Council in negotiations with waterslide operator for QEII
23 November 2003
Five waterslides could be operating next year at the QEII aquatic centre
in Christchurch following a Christchurch City Council decision to begin
lease talks with a local company.
In March the City Council called for proposals from operators,
and at their monthly meeting on 20 November, councillors considered
a staff report comparing two proposals. They favoured one from QEII Hydroslides
Ltd to install a five-slide attraction next year. A Super Bowl
ride could
be added in three to five years.
Councillor Graham Condon, chair of the Council’s Community and Leisure
Committee, says that if the lease talks are successful the slides will be
another magnet drawing people to the sport and leisure complex in the city’s
north-east.
Early in August last year, the Council opened the Atlantis leisure
pool complex at QEII with its 40m wave pool. Between then and the
end of June this year about 600,000 tickets were sold to people
using the complex.
QEII had been home to a set of old waterslides, but they were taken
out to make way for the redevelopment.
“
We always intended that a modern waterslide would return to QEII,” Councillor
Condon says. “If the talks are successful, this facility will have
a set of slides that’s right up with the best in the country. I’m
also pleased that the pricing looks to be competitive.”
The proposal from QEII Hydroslides includes two narrow, fast-moving
tubes, one of which will be darkened to make it feel even faster.
Of the three wider slides, one will provide a calmer ride and
two will allow people
to ride down on blow-up tubes, either singly or in pairs. The
five rides will have almost 10m of fall.
Top of Page ~ Media Release index
|
