Indoor Community Sports Centre - Overview

Basketball at a Wellington City Council recreation centre

In June 2007, after seven years of investigation and planning, Wellington City Council approved construction of an indoor community sports centre at Cobham Park in Kilbirnie.

The Cobham Park site was chosen ahead of alternative locations including land opposite the Westpac Stadium known as Harbour Quays. The Harbour Quays site was not adopted due to the prohibitive construction cost and potential conflict with regular events at the stadium.

The Cobham Park site will allow for a 12-court facility with the potential to increase capacity by three further courts in the future. There are around 40 schools close to the site, many of which do not have their own sports facilities.

The indoor sports centre is estimated to cost $46 million, and is likely to be completed by September 2010.

Resource consent was granted on 14 January 2009.

Resource Consent - Notice of Decision (156Kb PDF)

Independent Review of Indoor Community Sports Centre Location

In March, Mayor Kerry Prendergast offered an independent review to Councillor Andy Foster following his appeal to the Environment Court against the resource consent that had been granted for the Indoor Community Sports Centre at Cobham Drive Park. The Council agreed to this review on 5 March and noted that Councillor Foster said he would withdraw from the appeal as he agreed with the Terms of Reference.

Respected business and sporting community leader Sir John Anderson agreed to carry out the wide-ranging review into the proposal to build the centre and compare the proposed site at Cobham Drive Park in Kilbirnie with an alternative site on the Westpac Stadium Concourse. His report, released 15 April, confirmed Cobham Drive Park as the preferred site. Sir John will present his findings to Councillors at 1.00pm on 20 April at a public Strategy and Policy Committee meeting.

Report to Council - 20.04.09 (522Kb PDF)

The Council has agreed to abide by the review recommendations, meaning the decision about the location of the centre is final.

Independent Review Report

Hard copies will be available from Service Centres and Libraries from 20 April.

Proposed Uses

Existing demand and the growing popularity of netball, basketball and volleyball has highlighted the city’s need for more indoor sports capacity.

The proposed sports centre courts will measure 10,500 square metres, providing the public with quality playing and training facilities for a variety of indoor sports.

Wellington schools will have access to the sports centre for a range of sports development and physical activity programmes. The sports centre will also be a great destination for regional and national sports tournaments.

Design Process

The focus of the proposed 12-court sports centre will be on community sports and participation. The design includes the following:

seating for 1,000 spectators
meeting and social spaces
kitchen facilities
tournament control
changing facilities and services.

A series of public meetings, in October 2007, presented the preliminary design and the findings of a Traffic Impact Assessment. The presentation highlighted potential issues and how the Council plans to address them, and called for public feedback. There were 26 written submissions.

Engagement Questions and Feedback (272Kb PDF)

Updates

Sports clubs, residents associations and local residents will be updated on progress through distribution of regular newsletters.

Newsletters:

May 2009 (143Kb PDF)
November 2008 (135Kb PDF)
April 2008 (134Kb PDF)
January 2008 (241Kb PDF)
November 2007 (153Kb PDF)

Presentation to Sports Forum April 2008:

Growing Community Sport Update (569Kb PDF)

Cost

The sports centre at Cobham Park will cost around $46 million to build.

The average net operating cost over the life of the asset (50-60 years) is approximately $2.089 million per annum. A targeted rate was approved by the Council in June 2006 to cover the additional costs of increasing the development from eight to 12 courts.

Timeframe

June 2007	Reconfirmed 2006/07 Annual Plan decision to use Cobham Park site after investigating waterfront options.
July 2007 - March 2009	Design phases, resource consent process and selection of building contractor
April 2009 - September 2010	Construction
September 2010	Centre open for use

More Information

Jim Coard Project Manager
Phone:	(04) 803 8192
Email:	jim.coard

Jamie Delich Manager Recreation Wellington
Phone:	(04) 803 8353
Email:	jamie.delich