North Shore City Council approves concept plans for new National Ocean Water Sports Centre in Takapuna

The North Shore City Council has approved the concept plans for a National Ocean Water Sports Centre in Takapuna.

The sports centre will bring together sailing and other programmes into a single purpose-built facility on the edge of Takapuna Beach providing a base for high performance training programmes for elite water sports athletes and coaches.

The building has been designed with the bulk of the facility being underground beneath an existing road and carpark making it as unobtrusive as possible and sensitive to the surrounding area.

This project is initiated by the Harbour Access Trust, with the support of SPARC, the government, North Shore City Council and Yachting New Zealand. The centre is adjacent to Takapuna Beach Reserve on council owned land that will be leased to the trust. “It is no coincidence that many of New Zealand’s top ocean sport athletes are based in North Shore City. The water off Takapuna Beach is regarded as world class for sailing and the National Ocean Water Sports Centre can provide the facilities needed to help the New Zealand athletes perform on the world stage,” says Doug Cole, Sector Development Officer for North Shore City Council “This will make the North Shore the hub of New Zealand sailing and ocean sports and will benefit athletes and sports enthusiasts throughout the country as well as local businesses.” “This is an exciting but complex project that has multiple requirements yet to be worked through. We will endeavour to keep the public informed as plans for the centre progress.”

A project open day will be held on Thursday 29 July at the Takapuna War Memorial Hall from 4pm – 6pm for the public to find out more about this project.