22 | Hawke’s Bay: Pettigrew Green Arena - Apollo Projects Rapid growth drives new sports facility T T Virginia Wright REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T Tto page 24 Craig Waterhouse is the Chair of the Regional Indoor Sports and Event Centre Trust known as RISEC and trading as Pettigrew Green Arena. Based in Taradale in Hawkes Bay, in between its two centres Napier and Hastings, Craig’s been involved in the RISEC Trust for eight years. The Trust itself came out of the Eastern Institute of Technology’s (EIT) desire some 20 years ago to have facilities for their sports programme. With co-funding from EIT, local and regional councils and various sponsors a multi-million dollar indoor sports facility was built, complete with three international sized basketball/netball/futsal courts, which can convert to seven volleyball courts and are big enough to host regional tournaments. 20 years later the demand has so outstripped what these courts can provide to the region that a major expansion was mooted. RISEC, who manage the existing stadium, expanded their mission statement accordingly. “Our vision is to provide a public indoor facility for the furtherance of the well-being of the people of Hawkes Bay by providing more indoor court space.” says Craig. With fortuitous timing the indoor sports project was already on the drawing board when the “Shovel Ready” Fund was initiated by the government as a result of the Covid pandemic. $6,400,000 from the Shovel Ready Fund kicked off the fund-raising and construction is now well underway with co-funding from the Napier Council, the Lotto Community and Significant Projects fund, the Royston Trust, the Eastern Central Community Trust and topped up by a mix of corporate sponsorship, gaming machine trusts, and a loan, to a combined total of around $20,000,000. Included in that is Napier City Council’s and EIT’s contribution via the land and land use, and EIT’s further contribution in kind with the services of a project overseer, which the Trust have valued together at $1,500,000. “We’re building six more courts which means we’ll go from seven volleyball courts to 19,” says Craig. “We’re 70% there. The walls, the concrete subfloor and the roof are all in place. We’re looking forward to its completion and the amenities block being built.”
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