Mayor to open new $495,000 toilet block at Waipa

The new toilet complex at the Waipa mountain bike carpark will be officially opened tomorrow.

The almost half million dollar toilet block at the Waipa mountain bike carpark will be officially opened tomorrow.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick is hosting the official opening of the district's new toilet, shower and changing facilities at the Waipa mountain bike carpark tomorrow.

The new complex for mountain bikers and other recreational forest users features 12 unisex toilets, four showers, changing room space and provision for disabled users.

Development of the facilities follows a successful joint bid by the Rotorua District Council and the Home of Cycling Trust for the National Mountain Biking Centre of Excellence to be based in Rotorua.

The innovative building design includes a mountain bike track over the top of the toilet block leading mountain bikers into the forest's network of trails, and a pathway through the centre of the complex.

Deputy mayor and Sports and Recreation Strategy portfolio leader Dave Donaldson, who is also a Home of Cycling trustee, said the project contributes to the council's Rotorua 2030 goal of providing "outstanding places to play" and making recreation opportunities part of the community's lifestyle.

"The new bike track over the building's roof has been named "Gotta Go", a name chosen from 150 suggestions via a social media campaign.

"It's a tongue-in-cheek reference to the public conveniences, but also reflects the light-hearted style of other track names such as Gunna Gotta," Mr Donaldson said.

The building also features a creative artwork component designed by local artist Kereama Taepa.

Mr Taepa's designs reflect the surrounding environment fused with mountain biking and kowhaiwhai patterns and were chosen from six submissions.

Mr Donaldson said the forest was a fantastic asset for the Rotorua community and the city needed good facilities onsite for locals and tourists to use.

He said mountain biking was becoming more and more popular in Rotorua and had more than doubled in the last six years to around 200,000 visits a year to the forest.

"While the temporary portaloos have offered a very basic service for a long time they have become increasing costly to provide and challenging to service as recreational forest use has grown substantially every year.

"These cool new facilities will allow us to meet the needs of all forest users, but our mountain biking community in particular is pretty excited about the developments."

Mr Donaldson said the new $495,000 facilities would become an iconic component of Rotorua's mountain biking and forest recreation offering, befitting the city's role as a partner in the New Zealand Cycling Centre of Excellence.

The opening ceremony is at 1.30pm tomorrow.