Work to start on $32 million Maidstone Sports Hub

Tuesday, 8 June 2021

An artist's impression of the shared clubrooms and training facilities planned for Maidstone Park. Construction is expected to begin in September.

The much anticipated $32 million Maidstone Sports Hub will give the local rugby club, the Upper Hutt Rams, much-needed new clubrooms.

The rugby club will be one of the main beneficiaries of the new sports hub.

“It will be nice to get some shining new clubrooms,” said Christina Edmonds, chair of the Rams club.

Construction is due to start in September but the project is under significant financial pressure, with costs rising rapidly.

Upper Hutt City Council reopened the Maidstone Max playground and skate park recently following a $3.8m rebuild

* Lower Hutt now boasts the biggest sports hub in the region

* Vacant land at Maidstone Park on the market for housing

* UH City women's football success hard won

Mayor Wayne Guppy celebrates the opening of Maidstone Max playground and skate park.

The city council has included “up to” $13.5 million in its Long-Term Community Plan for the project, which in July 2020 received $12m as part of the Government’s “shovel ready” response to boost the economic recovery post-Covid.

The project originally had a budget of $15m to $18m.

Upper Hutt City Council’s director of community services, Mike Ryan, said it “remains under significant financial constraints” due to Covid-related supply chain issues.

The cost of materials, labour and freight have all increased rapidly, he said.

Council has done a “value engineering exercise” to see where costs can be saved and the council is still looking for outside funding.

The council is also planning to “stage” the project to meet rising costs. Work on the shared clubrooms will now begin in September.

Edmonds is delighted the club is getting new facilities and believes the hub will not only give rugby a boost but Upper Hutt sport in general will benefit.

The club has eight senior rugby teams, 27 junior teams and seven netball teams.

Its clubrooms were built in 1979 and she says the building is a ‘bit tired” and in need of maintenance. The club has also had financial issues after a club volunteer misappropriated $18,000.

With work beginning in September, rugby will need a new home for the 2022 season and Edmonds says the club will be sitting down with the council next week to look at options.

Mayor Wayne Guppy says the hub is about future-proofing sport.

“It is an investment in sport for the young people of Upper Hutt for the next 50 years.”

Although it is under financial pressure he is “confident” it will proceed as planned but aspects of the master plan will clearly need to be staged.

Developer Malcom Gillies is building a $30m multidisciplinary training centre on the former Central Institute of Technology site.

Guppy says the training centre will “complement” what the council is doing at Maidstone Park and will give locals access to world-class training facilities.

Other facilities planned for Maidstone Park include tennis, softball, hockey, pétanque, athletics and mountain biking.