Dugald Place receives more funding for indoor pool

Assisted living complex Dugald Place has received more funding for its indoor pool.

Selected as one of 14 projects to receive a portion of a $1 million grant, the 54-resident compound received $150,000 from Co-op Community Spaces.

“We are grateful for the support of the Co-op organization,” said Lesley Thomson, chair of the non-profit Springfield Heritage Housing Inc., which is building the project. “Not only is it an important component of our new Dugald Place Assisted Living Residence, (but) the pool responds to the aquatic needs of over 2,000 school-aged children in the municipality.”

The pool will provide swim lessons and public swim opportunities, something that the community asked for when Dugald Place was in the early stages of development about five years ago.

The $2.9 million pool project is part of the larger $29 million Dugald Place project which is set to have construction completed in October 2026. The pool is 30 feet by 57 feet and can hold 50 swimmers. It will have three lanes, a depth of 1.8m, and private lockers in the change room.

“It’s a very good size particularly for young families that are doing swimming lessons. They don’t need the lap swimming that a more serious competitive swimmer would need. We would have liked to have (an Olympic size pool) but we have to make decisions on what we could handle in the budget,” said Thomson.

Thomson said the pool was the most requested item from the community when the planning of Dugald Place began. The amenity will have separate entrances for the public and for the residents of Dugald Place and Dugald Estates.

“Activities in the pool will be run by the Springfield recreation department in the evenings and during the day when it’s not used, for that the seniors will have free access to the pool for those who are living in the building and living in the community,” said Thomson.

The funding from Co-op is part of a series of funding revenues the Dugald Place project has received in the past. It received $300,000 from the province and a loan of $6.35 million from the RM of Springfield. It also received $100,000 from Dugald United Church. All this is part of a $2.5 million fundraising campaign which has seen the project already raise more than $1 million.

Dugald Place, which started construction in April, will have many amenities including a full-service dining room with a commercial kitchen, laundry and suite cleaning, a private dining room for small family gatherings, a large common room as well as activity space on the upper floors of the four-storey building. There will also be a hair salon, a foot care clinic, and a scooter garage.

“We’re pretty excited by it. It’s been a long road to get to this point and lots of decisions and discussions on how to make it all happen, but it has all come together and I’m finding that having the partnership with the municipality is good because it gives you strength as an organization,” said Thomson. “When people look at us, whether they’re going to give us a mortgage or decide they’ll invest in our pool, they see the stability of the municipality being involved.”