Athletics boss urges rethink of $1.5m grandstand rebuild plan
Athletics Southland chairman Chris Knight wants everybody to take a breath and think about the future before an Invercargill grandstand gets rebuilt.
As part of its draft 2021-31 LongTerm Plan, the Invercargill City Council has proposed to spend $1.5 million on rebuilding the grandstand at Surrey Park.
The existing 850-seat grandstand is deemed earthquake-prone and a planning consultant has recommended the council replace it with a smaller-capacity grandstand. Work on the 57-year-old grandstand would be likely to start following the South Island Colgate Games, which will be held in Invercargill in January.
However, Knight wants Surrey Park users and other potential interested parties to have a conversation about the future needs before that plan gets the go-ahead.
While the grandstand is prominently used for select athletics events, the Waihopai Football Club’s clubrooms are based under the grandstand and Athletics Southland also has a storage area under it as well.
Knight wants to look into incorporating a clubrooms area into the grandstand rebuild that could cater for athletics, football, and other potential users.
He acknowledged that it would come at significant extra cost and would require a large fundraising effort.
‘‘We need to think about the future. We don’t want people in two years’ time saying, ‘We should have done this or that when the grandstand was built,’ ’’ he said.
Athletics Southland does not have a home base itself, although the St Pauls Harriers & Amateur Athletics Club and the Athletics Invercargill Club do have separate clubrooms at Surrey Park.
Knight agreed there was a push for more multipurpose sporting venues rather than single-use ones. He felt the grandstand could be a multipurpose asset if there were enough interested parties.
A meeting between existing users is planned for next week. They will look at the prospect of putting a submission to the council on the grandstand as part of the Long-Term Plan process.
Last year Athletics Southland raised $784,000 to redevelop the Surrey Park track, which had become worn out.
Last month the Southland Softball Association officially opened its new $1.85m development on the other side of the athletics track. That project did not include any council funding.
The softball clubrooms will be used by the Queens Park Football Club during the winter.
As part of the Long-Term Plan process, the council also plans to invest $4.9m into making the Rugby Park venue structurally sound.