Tuesday 24/01/12
2012 it’s going to be our year!
September the 18th 2010 seems such a long time ago, however there is a real air of excitement now within the southland community, with the knowledge we are only eight months away from completion of our new home Stadium Southland.
The massive structure is now taking its final shape with the five community courts having had the roof completed and the foundation work for the flooring beginning to be poured. The foundations will be made up of a six inch concrete base, with five wooden sprung walls being erected on top of the surface. Work late in January will also begin on the glazing of the back wall, which is a new edition to the facility. The main truss line joining the community courts and the ILT events court will also be erected late in January which will signify the final phase of the roof line.
In the new building, the roof structure is extended from 14 to 18.5 meters in the rebuild. We have extended the back and side by 3 meters to allow for far greater space between the playing courts and also the ability to house multi purpose seating units.
There are many new additional features in the rebuild including an additional retractable stand which will house 850 seats and will live on the back wall of the community courts. This stand will alleviate the operational issue of having to bring in and out of the venue a scaffold stand, which involved many hours of set up and pull down time. The seating in the facility is also being increased from 3,500 to 4017. This will now allow the venue to be able to host international netball tests between Australia and New Zealand, and also have the ability to attract international touring entertainers.
The 4017 seats in the new venue will be padded increasing patrons comfort from the former plastic seats.
The lighting lux level has increased from 800 to 1500 in the events court, ensuring that no additional lighting will be required in the venue for additional sporting events, or to meet television requirements.
One of the features in the old building was the rock climbing wall. We have relocated it to front foyer in the new facitlity, to allow greater usage and access.
There is also some significant change to the entries and exits of the building to allow traffic flow. Also, through wide spread community consultation there has been a great deal of emphasis on the disabled facilities.
The lift is being relocated to be alongside the squash courts giving access to the legends lounges and Velodrome. Another feature will be the ability for patrons to access special hearing devices throughout all of the seating configurations.
A special feature of the ILT events court is the black trussing and very large roof cavity which will house the lighting and sound trusses. They will all be automated along with the theater curtaining, ensuring there will be a major reduction of set up and pull down in these areas.
There is also planned to be additional space for corporate function rooms, also a home will be provided for the two international sporting franchises: Zero Fees Southland Sharks and Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel.
A new sports community house is also planned which will be phase five of the rebuild . The ground floor will be a home for Invercargill Venue and Events Management, the first floor will be rented out to Sports organizations and community organizations and the second floor is made up of a combination of multi purpose multifunctional rooms that can be utilized for specific event management or, as green rooms and hospitality rooms for major shows.
The foyer area has been redesigned including an updated cafeteria and ticketing booths to ensure that the total rebuild will incorporate modern technology and will present back to the community another world class facility.
The original stadium built back in March 2000 was $11.3 million, today’s replacement cost is nearing $32 million, of which NZI as the insurers have been a major contributor.
The Invercargill Licensing Trust, ILT Foundation Community Trust of Southland and the NZ Lotteries Board have also been major contributors to the project. Local identity Louis Crimp has also contributed $2 million dollars to the project which has been a fantastic boost to the overall project.
Nigel Skelt
Stadium Southland
Game On 2012
