QEII Park and Recreation Centre to be demolished

Most of Christchurch's QEII Park Recreation and Sport Centre is to be demolished because the earthquake-damaged complex is considered to be dangerous.

Christchurch City Council has received a Notice of Demolition under Section 38(4) of the CER Act from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) and has agreed to the proposed demolition with a timeline for the demolition to be confirmed.

CERA has issued the notice for the main stadium building, the covered stand and the north and south open stands because it considers them to be dangerous buildings. Although the CERA notice does not include the 50-metre pool which is in a separate building on the same site, engineering reports released by the Council last month show that structure is also significantly damaged.

Council General Manager Community Services Michael Aitken says the Council was aware from engineering reports that the complex was severely earthquake-damaged.

Aitken explained "we already knew that engineers believe that the facility cannot be repaired to the same level as a new facility and these were details we shared with the public when we released the QEII engineering reports last month.

"We are aware that there is high community interest in the complex and we are keen to ensure that there is some certainty for our residents around its future."

The Council is currently considering the future of QEII as part of its draft Annual Plan with its preferred option being for QEII and the Centennial Recreation and Sport Centre to develop the first stage of a multi-sport hub near the CBD City and to build a community leisure facility and athletic track on the QEII site or another site in the east of the city.

The public will have the opportunity to provide feedback about this preferred option as part of the Annual Plan consultation process, which begins on 20th April.

QEII Park was built in 1973 as the host venue for the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

The rebuilding of leisure infrastructure in the earthquake damaged city is a feature in the March/April 2012 issue of Australasian Leisure Management.

29th August 2011 - QEII FITNESS REOPENS AT PARKLANDS

11th April 2011 - VBASE’S PLANS TO BRING CHRISTCHURCH VENUES ‘BACK TO LIFE’

7th March 2011 - BLEAK OUTLOOK FOR CHRISTCHURCH’S QEII PARK COMPLEX

22nd February 2011 - TRAGEDY AS 6.3 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS CHRISTCHURCH

9th February 2011 - TOP IPC ATHLETES MAKE THE MOST OF QEII PARK’S NEW TRAINING TRACK

20th November 2009 - REDEVELOPED QEII CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE OPENS