Club upgrade on track for August start
THE plan to renovate and expand the Upper Clutha Rugby Football Club clubrooms at the Wanaka A&P showgrounds has received a boost after being granted resource consent.
Club committee member Luke Robson said the estimated $800,000 project was still on target to start in August, following the end of the current rugby season.
The project will include the construction of two new changing rooms, equipment storage rooms, new toilets, a deck and barbecue area, and a 50sq m extension of the main social area.
Mr Robson said the renovations had been in the pipeline for several years, and it was hoped the changes would enable the building to be used by the wider community.
‘‘You go inside and it’s just tired. It needs a bit of a facelift and become a bit more of a community centre as well. At the moment it’s very much primarily focused towards being a rugby club yet we know there’d be a lot more community groups who’d be keen to get involved if they knew the venue suited. I think everyone in the rugby club, and around it, is keen to see it become more of a multiuse building.
‘‘I recently went to the Maniototo clubrooms and they’ve really got on board with the clubrooms being a community space, as opposed to just a rugby club. To me, that’s something we’d like to aim towards.’’
While the club still need to gain a building consent and secure more funding, it was hoped construction would start in August, which would give the club ‘‘a good six to eight month berth to get stuck in’’, Mr Robson said.
Last December the club was granted $200,000 by the Central Lakes Trust, which Mr Robson believed would be crucial when applying for further grants.
‘‘Getting that Central Lakes Trust funding just helps our argument a lot. We’re not starting from scratch with our funding applications. We’re build ing from what we’ve got. Of course, the club had this improvement in mind for years, so there’s been a conscious effort to be saving with the intent of putting it towards new clubrooms. It just means we’re not having to put our hands out for everything.’’