Led by sporting great Sir Graeme Avery and Bruce Mactaggart, the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust (HBCFCT) has driven the development of these facilities with a clear focus on providing access to amenities and services that improve the health and wellbeing of the community.
Their latest project, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, features a 50m FINA accredited swimming pool, a 25m learn to swim pool, associated hydrotherapy and sports science pools. This facility is arguably the best in the country with a state-of-the-art LED sports screen, world class timing system, the best acoustics and sound system of its type in New Zealand, and pristine water quality, Hawke’s Bay is out there competing with the top international aquatic centres.
Getting started
Surrounded by specialist facilities such as a high-performance gym, team accommodation hostel, international-grade hockey turf and an athletics stadium, it’s a sporting and fitness hub for the region to be proud of.
With funding available from Government, as part of the “shovel-ready” COVID-19 initiatives, and plans already through the consent process, the Centre was up and running in almost record-breaking time, and as Bruce proudly notes, “we delivered this wonderful community centre well under budget, which is simply unheard of.”
Paul Lloyd and his team at Apollo Projects, managed the construction of the Aquatic Centre. New Zealand’s leading specialist sports facilities design and construction company, Paul and his team source the most fit for purpose, quality products for projects of this scale.
It was during discussions around the furniture and fittings, that Bruce and Paul connected with Hamish Whyte and the Resero Group, founding sponsors of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park, and the opportunity to install Sebel Fixed seating presented itself. With Bruce’s background in stadia construction in Australia, he was aware of Sebel’s reputation for products of the highest quality and durability in the toughest environments.
Product requirements
With the facility sanctioned by Swimming New Zealand, one of their requirements was for the facility to have enough spectator seating to support key international events. Recommending Viva Spectator seating ensured the specialist planners at Sebel’s HQ could maximise the seating capacity with the space available.
Specifically, the Viva range features galvanised steel frames and stainless-steel fixings - perfect for use in aquatic environments.
The team also made provision for significant poolside space to bring in temporary seating, and Sebel recommended Postura Plus Linking chairs – 600 of them! The chairs are lightweight, durable, stackable, and ultra-comfortable for long sessions poolside. And as a bonus, storage is a breeze as they fit neatly away under the bleachers when not in use.
Reliability and robustness were at the top of Bruce’s list of requirements for product performance. In his experience “you can’t afford to be replacing seats all the time, they have to be robust enough to last the course, especially in an aquatic setting.”
The Process
Obtaining renders, mapping out the optimal number of seats, emergency exits, disability seating, traffic flow, was easily configured by the Sebel Team. “Compared with some of the other projects I've been involved with, this was considerably simpler because we didn't have to grapple with the complexities of sightlines.”
Installation
The Viva Spectator seating installation programme was managed by the Sebel Team and carried out by experienced installers to comply with all technical and Health and Safety requirements. A benefit of using this product, was the vantage frame system which features 1, 2 or 3 seat units. These connect into each other to optimise seating capacity and reduce the number of fixing points to concrete treads.
Outcomes
“We are now seeing real benefits for the country, the region and the local community” HBCFCT General Manager David Nancarrow concludes. As the region wins hosting rights for large events such as the NZ Paris Olympic swimming trials, the community will benefit from not only the sporting pedigree on show, but the boost to the economy as swimmers, coaches and supporters travel to the region. David continued, “We have also achieved our objective of opening up access to other aquatic sports, such as water polo, which never existed in the region before, and now has 500 registered players.”
Sebel are thrilled to have played a part in the success of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre and look forward to watching the region prosper in more ways than one, in some way due to the development of this world-class facility.
