Would it make any difference if the pay-per-use machines were already there? Common use laundries are fairly rare these days. All laundries use water and electricity – should that be provided free to owners who don’t have washing machines in their units?
It’s up to the owners collectively to decide what they want in their laundry and, indeed, their gym. And I think the ruling you referred to is correct in that, since the original specifications didn’t state that the laundry would have washing machines installed for the free use of owners, then there is no requirement to do so.
This is an odd one. Previous complaints about common property laundries have been about owners putting their own machines in but using common property electricity and water. This is usually resolved by installing coin-op machines.
The advantage of that is that internal laundries can be used for much-needed storage, for instance.
You may find that all it takes for a laundry to be referred to as such is the provision of water, electricity, drainage and a waterproof floor.