The $11.5 million Te Hiku Sports Hub in Kaitāia is about a month away from opening.
The $11.5 million Te Hiku Sports Hub in Kaitāia is about a month away from opening.
Kaitāia’s new $11.5million Te Hiku Sports Hub might be a month away from opening but it is already proving to be a valuable asset for the community.
The project was first mooted about 10 years ago and it was originally hoped the hub would have opened last September.
However, issues including hold-ups in obtaining some of the pool’s reticulation pumps and systems meant the opening was delayed.
Project manager Mark Osborne says the complex is already proving a big asset as it was recently valued at $20 million: “Not a bad return for an $11.5m investment”.
He said the hub would be a tremendous asset for the community with a variety of sporting codes set to use it, including rugby, rugby league, football, netball and hockey.
A tour of the facility this week shows only the finishing touches are needed and Osborne said it will then be ready to be formally opened in about a month.
The final opening date for the facility - which will be drug and alcohol free - is expected next week. That final date depends on when the trust gets its Certificate of Public Use once all of the various systems for the pools and ventilation systems are finalised and commissioned.
Te Hiku Sports Hub project manager Mark Osborne is ready to welcome the public into the new facility in about a month.
He said it was exciting and a relief to get the project to this stage, despite the challenges it faced - including the soaring costs of materials.
“This project will really have many positive benefits for the health and well being of the local community and will have a massive impact here.”
Osborne said as a not-for-profit organisation, the trust had some problems raising the $11.5 million needed, and was still a couple of hundred thousand dollars short, but he was confident that would be raised by the opening day.
‘’We’re not the council so we can’t just use a targeted rate for funding and while we’ve had great support from the council, we’ve also had funding from Pub Charity, The Oxford Trust, Foundation North and other funders,’’ he said.
‘’One of the biggest challenges has been that since we started, the costs of materials etcetera have risen by more than 40 per cent so that’s been a biggie. But we wanted to ensure everything was up to gold standard so the asset lasts another 50 years or so.’’
The facility has two wings - the wet wing which includes the pools and the dry wing that has a gym.
Te Hiku Sports Hub project manager Mark Osborne in the wet wing of the new $11.5 million complex, which has four heated pools and is about a month away from opening
The pools and gym have underfloor heating with a hydrotherapy pool, toddler splash pool, learn to swim pool and an eight-lane pool 25 metres by 18.6 metres. This main pool slopes from 1.2 metres at one end to two metres.
Osborne said the wet wing also had an area set aside for a spa pool and sauna in the future. It has already been plumbed in and just needed funding.
Te Hiku Sports Hub supports the nearby fitness track, multi-use sports fields, courts and cricket nets.
The dry wing of the Te Hiku Sports Hub includes a gym, changing and shower rooms and rooms for sports clubs, meetings and events
The trust has just opened up membership for the facility.
And while people can pay casual daily rates, people can get a full membership - access to the wet and dry wings - for $16.90- a week, or $12.90 for the elderly, community service card holders and youth.
However, the trust is offering a pre-opening membership deal that offers two weeks free access to the facility with no joining fee.
Osborne said the aim was to provide a hub that could provide a wide-range of sports and recreation activities on one site and that had been achieved in style.
And being in Kaitāia, English, Māori and Dalmation are used on the signs at the new Te Hiku Sports Hub - possibly the only trilingual signage in the country.
