Wellington sports park to undergo $300,000 upgrade

Upgrades at Kelburn Park (pictured) are expected to be finished before the cricket season. Photo/file

A popular Wellington sports park will be undergoing a $300,000 drainage system upgrade to increase turf recovery between sports seasons.

Kelburn Park, which is home to club cricket, rugby, rugby league and football, will be completed in two stages beginning at the end of this month.

The upgrade comes after the existing 30-year-old drainage system filled with silt.

Wellington City Council Parks, Sport and Recreation project manager Peter Hemsley said the new system will increase efficient drainage for the turf to withstand the winter rugby, and recover quickly before the cricket season.

A 320m collector will be laid around the park, and about 3.3km of plastic piping will be laid in trenches across the park's two fields.

The two-stage installation will start with subsoil drainage, which is expected to finish before the summer cricket season at the end of October.

The additional surface drainage and sand application will begin before the winter season.

For safety reasons, temporary fencing will be installed around the sports field, and the adjoining car park will be temporarily closed.

Work will start on September 26 and is expected to take five weeks, weather permitting.