The Edgar Centre is operated by the Dunedin Indoor Sports Venue Trust - a not-for-profit charitable trust.
The Edgar Centre building is owned by the Dunedin City Council who are responsible for the upkeep of the building.
Together we have had a successful partnership for over 30 years to develop the Edgar Centre into one of the City's most utilised facilities with over 700,000 visits per annum, with our 21 indoor courts it is the biggest indoor sports venue in New Zealand, and the envy of most cities.
Unfortunately, being situated on reclaimed land beside the harbour, our building has foundations that allow for movement during tidal change. The building was built to cope with this, however over time the roof is now causing us major issues with leaks now appearing every time we get a steady rainfall. The roof design does not allow for the flexibility needed when the foundations move. While the movement is very minor, with an expanse of 14,400m2, over a period of time nails will break or roof metal sheets will rub, creating leaks that fall on the indoor courts below - totally disrupting the busy 18 court activities underneath. This has reached unacceptable levels for our users and stakeholders a situation that has been ongoing for the past 4 years.
The Dunedin City Council have continued to try and sort the ongoing issue with operational maintenance, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, these are only short-term fixes, and the time has come for a final solution that will protect the Edgar Centre for another 50 years ahead. The solution is to replace the existing roof and reengineer the roof structure to allow for the existing movement and increase the gradient of the roof, while also significantly improving the Centre's ventilation issues.
To undertake this project, it naturally requires a significant amount money - and a lot of this money we would need to ask the City Council for. The current estimate from City Property is $15m. There is some debate about this figure with no formal feasibility study having been undertaken. The Dunedin Indoor Sports Venues Trust is also able to apply for major funding through Lotteries and other major funders towards the project, which would allow us to reduce this overall figure to the ratepayer.
Our first step will be to submit our intentions to the 9-year DCC annual plan - ie to have this project earmarked to be undertaken within 9 years. The project will not eventuate if it is not listed in the annual plan for the future. We understand that increasing rates is not popular, and councillors are reluctant to put more costs on the ratepayers. We believe the benefits to the Dunedin population, and the necessity of maintaining the facility to the highest standards is a no brainer, and the investment is justified. To rebuild something similar to the Edgar Centre, even at half the size, would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Please support our submission by filling in the survey - every person's view counts!
Link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/56BJ7VK
Kind Regards
Blair Crawford
General Manager
