The first eight months of construction of Tauranga's $41 million indoor sports and exhibition centre has been captured on time-lapse camera and condensed into a minute-long YouTube video. Tauranga City Council's time-lapse camera has snapped photographs of the development every 15 minutes, which have now been compressed into a video showingfootage taken from February 2010 when construction on the footings began, through until September when the roof and internal structure were nearly complete. Trustees of the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust (TECT), which made significant contributions to the project, toured the site last week. Deputy chairman Bruce Cronin said the facility would be "absolutely magic for the region". "I had expectations that it would be good and I knew it was large but I was blown away by the actual size and physical scope of the total project." Tauranga City Council spokesperson Frank Begley said the centre had reached the halfway point when the tour took place last week and was set to open in the third quarter of next year. "As of last week it was on schedule and on budget," he said. The new 10,000sqm facility, complete with a 3500sq m-plus capacity three-court arena, six-court auditorium, and meeting and function rooms, will cater for community sport as well as delivering international sporting events, concerts, conferences, banquets and exhibitions. The first sod in the project was turned by Mayor Stuart Crosby in January. The opening cannot come soon enough for the city's main indoor sporting codes, particularly basketball, volleyball and netball. It represents the next step in trying to remedy the problems of Tauranga's rapid growth out-stripping council's ability to provide sport and cultural facilities. In October, Tourism Bay of Plenty chairman Graeme Marshall told the Bay of Plenty Times the new Sports and Exhibition Centre at Baypark would be a great asset to the region. However, "inspired leadership will be required to ensure that while the needs of the community are met, there is sufficient flexibility to host national and international events that have eluded us to date". - The construction video can be viewed at www.baypark.co.nz or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I03DiqRsrg - Daily construction photographs from Tauranga City Council can be viewed at www.tauranga.govt.nz
