Council & Business
29 August, 2022
Carisbrook Recreation Reserve upgrade moves forward
A new milestone has been reached in the multi-million dollar upgrade to the Carisbrook Recreation Reserve, with the steel frames for the main pavilion and bowls pavilion now being installed, much to the relief of user groups. Stages one and two of...
A new milestone has been reached in the multi-million dollar upgrade to the Carisbrook Recreation Reserve, with the steel frames for the main pavilion and bowls pavilion now being installed, much to the relief of user groups.
Stages one and two of the $4.9 million project have been completed, with the third and fourth stage to deliver an accessible and inclusive modern sporting facility providing dedicated change rooms for females, and a community hub for the growing population of Carisbrook and surrounding townships.
Stage three of the works program includes female friendly and umpire change rooms and amenities, a first aid room, multi-purpose room for events and meetings, an office and accessible toilet, while stage four works involve the redevelopment of the bowls pavilion, public amenities and accessible car parking — all being delivered by Searle Bros Building Contactors.
The final two stages of the project had been slowed due to delays in obtaining construction materials and Carisbrook Football Netball Club secretary Carlene Dowie said it was good to see work underway.
“It is very exciting to see the frame going up, everyone’s been a bit disappointed and frustrated by the delays we’ve had,” she said.
“We understand why they’ve occurred and they were unavoidable, but I think everyone’s been waiting to see something happening so it’s great to see this.
“We’ve got a lot happening at the club, we had a recent day promoting women’s footy and this really ties in with that.
“It would have been fantastic to have this new facility with female friendly change rooms people could come in and use, so we’re really looking forward to having it available in the future.”
The project has a key focus on making facilities more accessible and user-friendly, particularly for netballers and female footballers, something Ms Dowie said the club identified as an issue some time ago.
“It’s something we identified a while ago and certainly we had visiting teams coming here and seeing the visiting facilities we had,” she said.
“They actually just walked past them and didn’t realise they were the rooms they’d have to get changed in because the rooms were so ordinary.
“It has been a focus for us, we knew what we had wasn’t good enough and we’re really keen to grow with these new facilities.
“We’re really trying to make sure our facilities can meet the needs of our community for the next 20 or 30 years.”
Carisbrook Bowls Club president Leonie Briggs said the new bowls pavilion would support existing members as well as attract new recruits.
“The new pavilion is going to be a big plus for us in terms of improving the club moving forward,” she said.
“Hopefully the new facilities will also help to attract new members for us.
“It’s lovely to see some works going ahead, we can’t wait to be up and running in the new pavilion and starting our next season settled in.”
While pleasing to see works underway, Ms Briggs said the delays in the project were unfortunate and have impacted the upcoming bowls season.
“We’ve had to approach the Maryborough Highland Society and ask to use their greens for the whole pennant season and any other bowls we want to do because we can’t use our green during the construction process,” she said.
Identified as one of council’s Priority Projects, as well as a key project in council’s Recreation and Open Space Strategy 2020-29, the redevelopment of the Carisbrook Recreation Reserve will deliver an accessible and inclusive modern sporting facility providing dedicated change rooms for females, and a community hub for the growing population of Carisbrook and surrounding townships.
Central Goldfields Shire Tullaroop Ward councillor Anna De Villiers said it was wonderful to see the project progressing after some delays.
“The pandemic continues to cause challenges across the nation and Central Goldfields Shire is certainly not immune to the supply and workforce issues facing the construction industry,” she said.
“Whilst it’s certainly disappointing that the project hasn’t progressed as quickly as we’d hoped, the delivery of the steel to site will now see the project progress following delay issues of this critical material.
“We look forward to the completion of the project so that the Carisbrook community can enjoy the facility for many years to come.”