Multipurpose sport and education facility to be built in Wellington’s Worser Bay

A multipurpose sport and education facility is to begin construction at Worser Bay in Wellington after three years of planning by Worser Bay Boating Club and Wellington City Council.

The new facility will not only be home to the Worser Bay Boating Club, but it will also be the centre for a Boat & Beach Wise schools programme and a Central New Zealand youth sailing hub.

Announcing the impending construction, Worser Bay Boating Club Commodore Dean Stanley stated “we have designed the building and surrounding site works so that they include a series of spaces that schools from the greater Wellington region can use to help keep kiwi kids safe and active in and around the sea.

“We are particularly excited about the plans that Wellington City Council have commissioned which include spaces for a ‘penguin hotel’, paua nursery, snorkelling trail and anemone garden. Local school kids will be involved in establishing these aspects of the Boat & Beach Wise Centre, then will be responsible for monitoring their success in improving marine biodiversity into the future”.

The Boat & Beach Wise Centre will include an inside ‘wet’ classroom and an outdoors ‘dune’ classroom in which Wellington school kids will be taught water skills for life while developing an understanding of how to restore and look after coastal ecosystems.

It is not only Wellington school children who stand to benefit as the Boat & Beach Wise Centre also includes state of the art facilities designed to support youth sailors from Central New Zealand to stay active in the sport of sailing and succeed on the international stage.

Stanley explained “sailing is like a lot of other sports in that we see a large drop off in youth participating in the sport as they enter their teenage years.”

The Central New Zealand youth sailing hub is a collaboration with Yachting New Zealand that is designed to turn this trend around by providing a mixture of sport science and coaching support to help young sailors bridge the gap from junior sailing to lifelong sailing.

A charitable trust called the Worser Bay Argosy Trust has been established to oversee the development of the schools and youth programmes and to find business and philanthropic support for their implementation.

Stanley added “in setting up the Worser Bay Argosy Trust we looked-for trustees with a broad community background and a range of experiences to ensure the new facility becomes much more than simply a clubroom.

“Our local Member of Parliament Paul Eagle and Worser Bay School Principal Jude Pentecost are just two of the seven trustees that bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in the sport and education sectors to the task of establishing and governing the schools and youth programmes”.

The Worser Bay Boating Club will also benefit from the project with its existing 60-yearold building is earthquake prone, no longer complies with parts of the building code and is increasingly susceptible to storm damage as sea level rise starts to impact on Wellington City.

The Wellington City Council is well advanced with plans for the site works around the new building which includes a new boat ramp, a raised rigging area, extended rescue boat breastwork and rock revetment around the car parking area.

Work will begin on the project in April 2018 and is planned to be completed for the start of summer 2019. 

Images: Worser Bay Boating Club (top) and its planned new facility (below).

17th October 2017 - WELLINGTON REGION LOOKS TO BENEFITS FROM TRAIL NETWORK INTEGRATION

6th October 2017 - ADVENTURE PARK TO BE DEVELOPED IN PORIRUA 

19th June 2017 - WELLINGTON REGION MAYORS ADVANCE PLANS FOR NEW 12,000-SEAT ARENA

15th December 2016 - FUNDING WINNERS AND LOSERS AS NEW ZEALAND SPORT LOOKS TO TOKYO 2020

16th June 2010 - NATIONAL OCEAN WATER SPORTS CENTRE FOR TAKAPUNA BEACH