Waiohiki Community Complex designed to include all

The Hastings District Council was today asked to commit $250,000 to kick-start fund-raising for a new community complex development after a fire gutted part of a marae more than nine years ago.
The March 2002 fire gutted Waiohiki's Te Huinga dining hall, leading to a major rethink by marae hapu Ngati Parau and spawning plans for the Waiohiki Community Complex, a multiple-use project expected to cost up to $10 million over the next 10 years.
Incorporating a traditional meeting house, it also includes cultural, educational and tourism features based on the philosophy of open relationships forged by Tareha Te Moananui, who deemed the marae should be for all people.
Marae trustees have committed $500,000 and building committee chairman Alby Grey and fund-raising committee chairman Denis O'Reilly hope for a good reception from the council, ahead of a "people's launch" of the project and fundraising on June 17.
Mr O'Reilly said fundraising would also feature an "international launch" and art auction on September 29, with events in New York and London hosted by global communications giant Saatchi and Saatchi, headed by CEO and Kiwi marketing guru Kevin Roberts.
The application to the council was being considered at its Community Grants Sub-Committee meeting, along with applications for a "whole village" vision for Waiohiki, at the northern gateway to the Hastings District.
Mr O'Reilly said it would become the "third leg" to a "stool" of regional cultural facilities, including the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings and the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery in Napier.
It also fitted with other features of the Waiohiki and Taradale area, including the Waiohiki Community Arts Village and the Waiohiki Golf course on the Hastings side of the Tutaekuri River, the EIT, the Pettigrew Green Arena and the Otatara Pa reserve, all in the area of the Napier City Council.
The first stage of the building project requires $3.6 million and is intended to be designed "ready to go" by the mid-June launch during Matariki, the Maori New Year celebration.
"We will then pause until we get our funding in place," Mr O'Reilly said.
It was intended up to $5 million of the eight-figure sum being sought over the next decade would come "from our own efforts," he said.
At the time of the wharekai fire, the marae had been planning other redevelopment and Mr Grey said that out of the loss came a lot of thought and effort by marae trustees and others, some no longer around to see the efforts of those he hoped would bring the project to fruition.
"While the tikanga of the marae is part of it, it is in the broader sense in keeping with Tareha's philosophy," he said. "It's open to any purpose for which it may be needed by the community."