Charles Sturt Council advances new St Clair Recreation Centre

The City of Charles Sturt is moving forward with its $26 million plan to revitalise the St Clair Recreation Precinct in Adelaide’s north west.

With demolition of the former St Clair Recreation Centre beginning at the end of October, the project involves rebuilding almost the entire centre to include six basketball courts, a dedicated indoor roller skate area, a gym, weights room, community meeting areas and a cafe.

Plans also feature a first floor mezzanine with a balcony, function room, kitchen and bar along with a regional outdoor play space in the facility’s grounds.

This will include nature play and all ability inclusive spaces, a new skate park, new recreation and picnic areas and community use tennis courts.

The City of Charles Sturt is funding $15 million of the works through its Long Term Financial Plan backed by $11.5 million from the South Australian Government ($7.5 million from the the South Australian Office of Recreation and Sport and $4 million from the South Australian Department of Education and Child Development).

Commenting on the project City of Charles Sturt Mayor Angela Evans commented “our new recreation space will create a destination and focal point on Woodville Road, providing a range of new experiences for residents and visitors. The playground and facilities for young people will be one of the largest developed within the city, and will be of unique and world class design.

“We will also upgrade and expand the existing playing fields, removing existing mounds and creating more flexible playing surfaces, adding in BBQ and picnic facilities.

“The building design has been undertaken with input from key stakeholders, user groups and community. The design addresses the shortage of indoor courts identified within the Western Adelaide Sporting Facility Supply & Demand Study and the aspirations of the community to see the heritage component of the building retained, enhanced and the centre expanded.”

Woodville Warriors Basketball Club President Craig Gilbert said the club was desperate for a new centre, despite the history of the old building.

Gilbert told Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser “we’ve been involved at the centre since it was first built, its where the club was formed and where we hope to continue to play for a long time.

“But we’re desperate for a new centre with correct floor size, as only two of our four courts now are full size, so we can’t use the ones that aren’t for district competitions.”

Gilbert said they hope the new centre would help them to grow the club and host tournaments in the future, such as the national junior championships.

About 2500 people use the old facility each week including the Warriors, the Western Magic Basketball Club and social netball and futsal competitions.

Images: Artist's impressions of the proposed St Clair Recreation Centre. Courtesy of Charles Sturt Council. 

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