Auckland Council has engaged Visitor Solutions to undertake a feasibility study into building a Waiheke community pool on Te Huruhi School land.
Waiheke Local Board Chair Cath Handley says the board is pleased. “I’m hopeful it will show a pool that meets the community’s needs can be built on the site.”
Visitor Solutions has worked with councils around New Zealand and with Auckland Council on sports-related studies.
Company lead Danny O’Donnell says Visitor Solutions is familiar with the background to the pool issue. The study will look at whether a pool can be built on land being freed up by redevelopment at the school, what type of a pool would best work, costs and consenting.
In April, Waiheke Local Board, Te Huruhi and Waiheke High School’s boards of trustees, and the Ministry of Education released a joint statement of support for the study. They confirmed that the preferred option was a 50m x 25m site footprint to accommodate a 25m x 12m main pool, 8m x 12m learner’s pool, changing rooms, plant and offices at the northern end of the school’s boundary.
The statement noted a pool could be indoor or outdoor and that a 75m x 45m junior rugby field and 90m x 50m hockey turf would be developed to the south, adjoining the proposed new school, as part of the project because existing fields would need to make way for the pool.
Visitor Solutions will engage with all key stakeholders as part of its investigation and is expected to report its findings to Waiheke Local Board early in the new year.
