| 103 COMMUNITY Golden Sands Baptist Church - Brunel Construction New centre brings hope Sue Russell The Papamoa project will develop a new church and community centre “providing wrap-around social services”. In May 2018 a new Baptist Church formed in Papamoa and since that time Lead Pastor Colin Gruetzmacher has led the community of worshipers, paid and volunteer workers as they reach out to offer support, friendship and social services to young and old alike in their neighbourhood. The Baptist community has a strong focus on engagement outward and to support those aspirations the congregation has been working hard to grow sufficient funds to build a new church and community centre; one that will serve the needs not only of the church itself but of a much wider cohort. The multi-million dollar project is being funded by donations, gifts, pledges, loans, grants and future income streams from leasing some spaces out to other community organisations to use. “We have raised about 80% of the funds we need which has been such a wonderful thing to see happen in a relatively short space of time. We only need now about $600,000. We’ve also factored into the budget the servicing of a loan through rental we will receive from groups leasing some of our spaces,” Colin explains. The project, on land already purchased, is going to transform the church’s capability to offer its own suite of social services to the community, as well as fill a desperate need for more community spaces for the public and groups to use. Pāpāmoa is one of this country’s fastest growing regions and with more people comes the need to provide adequate community facilities. It is becoming a vibrant and diverse Bay of Plenty hub in its own right, but the speed of the growth has also brought challenges that this new centre hopes to support overcoming. “We’ve seen housing growth far outpace that of community-oriented infrastructure. Existing facilities such as the library and the recreation centre are in heavy demand by groups to book out spaces, leaving some groups with few options as to where to meet. We’re also very aware that new arrivals have moved away from family and existing networks and are vulnerable to feeling isolated and lonely.” Really careful thought has been put into the design of the three-winged complex and some lively imagination, in turning the design concept phase itself into a competition for local architects to submit their vision, was a great way to engage with these professionals. Colin says that each architect did an incredible job. “I was surprised at the amazing designs. We chose this one, by Stufken and Chambers because the spaces had a huge community focus to them. We also loved the entrance look outside which has a flax-type weaving design linking back to Papamoa’s past as a flax growing site. “We liked that connection and respect to the region’s history.” For the Baptist Church community the fact that they will have a beautiful centre to provide wrap-around social services is something Colin says is cause for celebration. “As a Church we have a strong focus on enabling the community in all sorts of ways and this gives us a home from which we can achieve great things for the people of Papamoa.” Burnell Construction are undertaking the build and been able to plan sufficiently ahead to not be too impacted by supply-chain challenges at this time. Work is scheduled to be completed by April 2023. TRUSTED NAME IN CONCRETE. THE New Zealand’s largest supplier of Certified Concrete, Masonry, Paving, Concrete Retaining wall systems and Dricon® bagged concrete. 100% proud to supply Golden Sands Baptist Church - Brunel Construction 0800 FIRTH 1 FIRTH.CO.NZ SCAFFOLD CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN SPECIALISTS • COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL & INDUSTRIAL SCAFFOLDING • PROPPING & SHORE LOADING • HEALTH & SAFETY • EQUIPMENT HIRE/SALES Covering Waikato & BOP Region 022 043 2619 | infowaikato@scaffolding.org.nz | www.summitscaffoldingwaikato.co.nz
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