A modern facility looking to the future

The Saxton Stadium features five basketball and/or netball courts, 12 volleyball courts, and an 800-square metre annex for table tennis.

It has cost about $13 million, with the four key sports codes forming a fundraising society to come up with their 20 per cent share (just over $2.6m), most of which has come from lottery grants (about $1.2m), the Canterbury Community Trust ($400,000) and the New Zealand Community Trust ($600,000).

The society has been talking with the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council about a shortfall between the $9m the two councils had agreed to contribute and the final cost.

Nelson schoolteacher Roger Ledingham, who chairs the society, says the cost is "very, very low" on a per square metre basis. That helps to explain why the stadium has been built with no seating to speak of. The city council has been keen to avoid setting up the new venue to compete with the Trafalgar Centre, which is expected to remain Nelson's principal venue for big spectator sports (including Giants basketball matches).

Big tournaments staged at Saxton Stadium will have to move their finals across town to the Trafalgar Centre if they're expecting large crowds of spectators. There are plans to eventually add up to 500 portable seats to the stadium.

The city council will take over ownership of the stadium when it is completed project managers Arrow International have a September 30 deadline, which they are on track to meet and then contract out the management, for a two-year term initially.

Users will be charged for access, although council parks and facilities manager Paul McArthur says the fees will reflect the fact that the council wants to encourage use and recognise the significant contribution made by the codes in getting the place built. Mr Ledingham says that from a user's point of view "we haven't heard [the council's] final figures yet, but their attitude is reasonable".

Similarly, the council will own the adjacent Sports House office complex but expects to lease it to a single head tenant Sport Tasman which will then be responsible for sub-tenancies (the sports trust hopes to see various codes set up their administrative offices there).

While the stadium itself has a utilitarian design, it has been connected to the neighbouring netball pavilion, which includes a function area.

- © Fairfax NZ News