Game changer for capital sport
A multimillion-dollar training hub in Upper Hutt looks set to attract the cream of Wellington’s young rugby, football, cricket and basketball talent.
The 18-hectare New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport hopes to complete a massive refurbishment project within two years, and become a world-class development base for Wellington’s professional sporting codes.
Co-owner Malcolm Gillies is negotiating with Wellington Rugby, Basketball New Zealand, the Wellington Phoenix and New Zealand Football, Wellington Cricket and New Zealand Cricket.
Hydrotherapy pools, basketball courts, four sand-based allweather sports fields, and a 50-metre by 70m green room are planned to meet the needs of all sports at all levels, including development and academy programmes.
The former Central Institute of Technology site in Heretaunga has already signed up several tenants, including Corrections New Zealand. It has 500 rooms for accommodation, restaurants and cafes, and office and administration space.
‘‘We’re looking at spending $38 million on refurbishing the whole site and, with the sports hub, the best part of $8m on a 8000-square-metre gymnasium,’’ said Gillies, who bought the site with Lower Hutt developer Kevin Melville in June 2015.
‘‘We are going to create something which has the potential to be the best in Australasia. It’s exciting and both the Upper Hutt and Wellington city councils are behind us.’’
Gillies said they had memorandums of understanding in place with some sporting bodies, and were in discussion with others.
‘‘We’re looking to have most of the negotiations tied up by April, with construction to start in September and finish a year later.’’
The concept was all about economies of scale. ‘‘We can provide facilities that can be shared that no one code can afford.’’
Wellington Rugby chief executive Steve Rogers said: ‘‘It ticks a lot of boxes for us, especially as there is not a lot of land in the Wellington CBD.
‘‘We’ve agreed in principle, and now we are down to detailed planning.’’
Wellington Rugby would retain its main training ground at Rugby League Park in Newtown, but needed significantly more space for the development of rugby at all levels, he said.
‘‘We’ve come to the conclusion this was an opportunity you don’t get every day, and I’m hopeful in a couple of years we’ll be there.’’
Basketball NZ boss Iain Potter said the national organisation was keen to be involved. ‘‘It will open up lots of opportunities for us, from the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns level to national teams through all the grades, talent camps and tournaments.’’
Wellington Phoenix general manager David Dome said the club was ‘‘working with the developer as to a potential model which would suit the growing demands of the club’’.
‘‘The proposed development is a unique opportunity to secure access to resources that are scarce within the Wellington region.
‘‘This could potentially be an area of competitive advantage in not only the development of local players, but in the attraction of international players.’’
A major obstacle to expanding the club’s youth and academy programmes was access to training facilities. ‘‘We are over capacity and simply don’t have access to grounds to train on at the right time,’’ Dome said.
Wellington City Council economics and commercial manager Danny McComb said councillors had been briefed on the project.
‘‘We’ve been aware of it all along, but Upper Hutt is the lead council on it.
‘‘We have an in-principle agreement, and it’s a matter of getting down to the nitty gritty,’’ McComb said.
Upper Hutt City Council chief executive Chris Upton said the project shaped up as a ‘‘world-class facility’’ with the potential to be of major economic and commercial advantage to the city.
‘‘It’ll be fantastic to have the CIT used like this. We need the major codes to commit to it and I think it will grow and grow.’’