Client: Lake Macquarie City Council
Timeframe: August to September 2026

LARCAN was engaged by Lake Macquarie City Council to undertake an independent review of the management arrangements for Council’s network of six aquatic centres: Charlestown, Morisset, Speers Point, Swansea, Toronto and West Wallsend. The project focuses on determining the most appropriate future management model for the network beyond the expiry of the existing external management agreements in June 2028. 

The review considers Council’s existing mixed management model, with four centres managed directly by Council and two operated externally, alongside the changing needs of the aquatic network. This includes population growth, future service demand, facility redevelopment and investment, operational and financial performance, workforce capability, customer experience, governance, risk and Council’s capacity to operate the facilities as an increasingly integrated aquatic service. 

The project combines detailed management model assessment, financial and operational benchmarking and review of Council’s existing external management agreements to provide a clear, evidence-based pathway for future aquatic service delivery. The assessment considers both fully in-house and hybrid management arrangements, including the implications of using a single or multiple external operators, and identifies the transition and implementation requirements associated with future management arrangements. 

Key services included:

• Review of current management and operating arrangements across Council’s six aquatic centres.
• Assessment of alternative management models, including fully in-house management and hybrid management configurations.
• Financial and operational performance analysis across the aquatic network.
• Industry benchmarking against comparable Australian public aquatic facilities using CERM PI benchmarks. 
• Assessment of population growth, changing demographics and future aquatic service demand.
• Consideration of current and planned facility redevelopment and its implications for future operations and service delivery.
• Evaluation of management models against strategic alignment, governance, community outcomes, financial sustainability, operational capability, workforce, customer experience, risk and compliance.
• Assessment of opportunities for greater network integration, including workforce sharing, Learn to Swim and programming, memberships and pricing, customer systems, marketing and performance reporting.
• Review of contemporary aquatic industry requirements, including aquatic safety, WHS, child safeguarding, asset management, technology, environmental performance and community outcomes.
• Identification of transition and implementation requirements, including workforce planning, organisational structure, systems integration, customer data, asset due diligence, recruitment, knowledge transfer and operational readiness. 
• Preparation of the Aquatic Centres Management Model Review and recommendations to guide Council’s future management arrangements beyond June 2028.
• Detailed review of existing outsourced management agreements, including governance, accountability, compliance, performance management, risk allocation, asset responsibilities and contract administration.