GRAND DESIGN: An artist's impression of the first stage of the proposed sporting complex for Hawke's Bay.
FROM Wairoa, to Central Hawke's Bay, a proposed world-class development at Hawke's Bay regional sports park is expected to change the region for generations to come.
The dream which began in 2009 could soon become a reality, with plans for the current Sports Park site to be developed into a "centre for excellence in human performance" - known as AUT Millennium Hawke's Bay.
Heralded as "transformational for the region", the facility would benefit the community, nurture and develop top athletes.
Nearly seven years after Sport Hawke's Bay talent development manager Marcus Agnew conceived the idea, he said he was now pinching himself.
"It's a community wide, sports wide, region wide system for developing health and exercise, including helping our talented athletes go the whole way," he said. "It's high performance and mass participation all embraced under one roof.
"We have the opportunity now to become the ultimate dream of fitness, and health. We as a region need and deserve our own regional centre of excellence."
A partner of the new facility would be AUT Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, a multi sport environment with world class facility's and assets of $85 million.
The chairman of its board, Sileni Estate owner Sir Graeme Avery, would chair Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust - established to govern the successful operation of Hawke's Bay's organisation.
Mr Avery was confident in the project, which he said would deliver bigger and better community health and sports performance outcomes, through community focus and collective achievements.
" You don't do these things unless you know there's a need, and because the ingredients for success exist," he said. "It's going to be a transformational project for the region in the way people think and deliver the needed improvements for healthy lifestyles."
All in, Hawke's Bay would benefit from the collaboration between the projects partners, which would blend the knowledge acquired from the AUT Millennium Institute in Auckland, and AUT University, with local knowledge from EIT, Sport Hawke's Bay, and Hawke's Bay Sports Events & Education Consortium.
Targeted for completion mid 2018, early plans envisioned the AUT Millennium Hawke's Bay as being a "multiple-sport training, community health and wellbeing facility" - including an indoor synthetic surface with six lane sprint track and pole vault dome, a high performance strength and conditioning gym for sports and wellness development, and an indoor sports hall. Patrons could also use a gym, and sports medicine centre before enjoying a coffee at the on site cafe.
Every school in the region would be given the opportunity to come to the facility, he said. Like schools in Napier or Hastings, those further away could also enjoy day, or week-long healthy lifestyle and sports development education camps at the on-site accommodation lodge.
"It's an environment to inspire the younger kids as well as an environment for leading athletes in the region to train in," Mr Avery said.
"It will have a much stronger health management proponent, and they'll all be rubbing shoulders together, learning from each other," Mr Avery said,
"Different sports codes, different sectors, and healthy lifestyle promotion can come together to exchange ideas and methodologies in a dynamic environment."
However, while physically located in between the twin cities, the "bricks and mortar facility" was only the base for what AUT Millennium Hawke's Bay would achieve.
It would be the "headquarters" from which different research-led programmes would be delivered to those at pre-school age, to the elderly throughout the region.
The research-led programmes, from AUT University, AUT Millennium in Auckland, and EIT, would supplement the more general programmes of Sport Hawke's Bay, and Sport NZ by focusing on community health and wellbeing, identifying youth talent, and aiding athlete development.
From pre-school through to secondary, children would learn about healthy lifestyles, nutrition education. Long term athlete development programmes were also planned for intermediate and secondary schools to nurture and develop sports performance over time. Local and regional sports groups would also benefit through structured programmes in strength and conditioning, nutrition, life skills and sports psychology.
Special programmes for at-risk youth to develop self-esteem from winning in sport and leadership through coaching in sport were also being envisioned.
Through programme participation, the region's talented youth could be identified, who could then explore their potential in the "enriched and inspiring environment" of the centre.
Mr Avery said the institute would help young athletes be the best they could be eventually in their chosen sport, moving more of them forward into national high performance training programmes.
To ensure everyone in the region had access, a "great network linking through to this hub" was already being planned, Mr Agnew said, with satellite programmes and facility's from Dannevirke to Wairoa.
Schools, gyms, and recreation centres, across the region would host staff certified to deliver the programmes, which "aim to help people of all ages and levels reach their potential to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives".
Through the proposed centre, the region's best athletes would be supported by world class people and facilities at a multiple sport training environment, with medical and sports science support on site.
Through Sports Performance Development programmes, their coaching, training, injury rehabilitation and recovery, performance analysis, strength and conditioning would be catered to.
As well as aiding the health of the region's population, and supporting the region's top athletes, the centre would also become a regional performance hub for national sports organisations - with swimming, athletics, triathalon, and hockey New Zealand among those who had already expressed interest.
If completed, the centre could also offer "economic development gains" - providing about 50 part time and full time jobs, plus potential new teaching opportunities at EIT as the tip of the iceberg.
EIT deputy chief executive Mark Oldershaw said while the project was still in its early days, in the longer term the project could present some opportunities to expand, as the institution was always open to course development if there was demand.
"We have an extensive background in terms of high performance sport and health science areas," Mr Oldershaw said. "This could well present some good opportunities for us."
The institution already had well established expertise in terms of high performance sport, and Mr Oldershaw said the project would be a good opportunity for them to work more with wider community sports.
Partners were also hoping with the world class facility and programmes, national and international events would be drawn to Hawke's Bay, as would major conferences in health and wellness and sports talent development.
It could also bring new residents, with people from outside the region, or overseas moving to the bay attracted by programmes on offer.
If completed, Mr Avery said the AUT Millennium Hawke's Bay would be a model for regional New Zealand to follow, something even big cities like Auckland could learn from. Capital fundraising for the project has not begun, but it was hoped as well as other avenues, the community would help support the commercial project.
Community response would be one of the main reasons for the facility's success, Mr Avery said, as people responded better when they could see the benefits in it for themselves.
"There will be inter-generational benefits which will be sustained, and while it'll transform community health and wellbeing and sport, it will give those inter-generational benefits," he said.
"It will also achieve enormous civic pride in a regional community of helping create something that will be truly world class, I have absolutely no doubt about that.
"That's why a community-led and focused project will always succeed, because harnessing energy from within the community and journey, everyone likes success and it will be a journey of success and it will never end."
Mr Agnew said they hoped people would want to be part of the centre, not just with funding but by supporting it in anyway they could.
"I can't understate how huge this will be if we seize the opportunity ... these things aren't easy to get off the ground, it has to be a community decision, it's for the people."
"This is an opportunity for us as a region," he said.
"If we do this it will be New Zealand leading, if not world leading."