Hawkes Bay Regional Sports Park
While fund raising in Hawkes Bay for a sports park facility was in full swing, a significant development in roof innovation was happening that would ultimately benefit this world class complex: a newly released warm roof system was chosen for the $28m first stage of the new sports hub. Dimond Roofing had developed a solution to the vexed problem of condensation reducing the effectiveness of insulation in commercial, industrial and public buildings.
Coinciding with work starting on the sports facility, located on the Napier-Hastings expressway, Dimond Roofing’s Tricore® product, a three-in-one roofing solution, would be the first install of the system in New Zealand. Tricore® provides weather tightness, insulation and noise control, thereby extending the life of the insulated roof.
Fundraising for a centre of sporting excellence began in 2016 to establish what is fast becoming a world class sports and recreation hub at the existing Hawkes Bay Regional Sports Park. The project is the vision of Hawkes Bay’s Community Fitness Centre Trust (HBCFC), led by philanthropist Sir Graeme Avery who has had a 45-year involvement with athletics in New Zealand with noted enthusiasm for throwing disciplines. Sir Graeme has been the brains behind the creation of this multi-sports training environment for the people of Hawkes Bay – Napier and Hastings in particular.
Architects for the project, Pacific Environments NZ Ltd were approached in 2016 to develop a Master Plan for the future development of the Hawkes Bay Regional Sports Park, the first stage of which was to be a multi-function sports hall. The brief from the HBCFC and stakeholders outlined multiple sports courts, indoor track and field disciplines, exercise gyms, offices, sports labs, a medical clinic and public café space.
The sports hub will support all age groups across the Hawkes Bay region offering community health and fitness, school sports development and community sport along with sports and health science research. The $28m Stage 1 of the complex was completed in 2019 to be followed by a second tier of works to include a 50m Olympic pool and a learn-to-swim school. Also included will be a hostel to accommodate visiting sports teams and others for training camps and competition locally. The development has conference and meeting rooms with an indoor arena under a Dimond® Tricore® insulated roof system, built to a height to accommodate pole vault training and Olympic-level rock climbing disciplines. This sports hall has an athletics training area, a strength and conditioning centre, training courts for basketball, netball, volleyball and badminton.
The Tricore® roofing system
The choice of Tricore® helped construction teams to meet deadlines and stay within budget .Basically a couple of months was saved across the project, says Project Architect, Tane Pratt. Designed for New Zealand weather conditions, which sometimes can be extreme, the Tricore® system means once the first base layer of MPN 900 goes on, the whole building can be effectively waterproofed immediately so that interior work can continue below. A beneficial time saving on a job of this magnitude. This base layer provides a working platform for additional layers of the system to be installed. Insulation is MFP PIR board followed by Solitex Mento 1000 underlay with a slotted roof rail system providing the vital ventilation to allow moisture to evaporate. The 3000m2 roof area required 36m lengths of concealed clip Dimondek® 630 rolled on site and craned into position on the roof to be clip fixed so there is no penetration through the roof cladding.
A feature of the system is the high-quality roof underlay which sits on top of the insulation with sealed laps that allow transfer of water vapour but prevents condensation moisture from passing through to the insulation below. There is also a galvanised roof rail that is positioned above the insulation board and roof underlay to create an air space immediately below the metal roof sheet.
RANZ member Turfrey, a family business which had its beginning in Waipukurau in 1975, operates now as a group enterprise with branches throughout Hawkes Bay, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and Wellington. With a HQ/support office in Hastings, Turfrey has been a warm roofing specialist across the North Island for a number of years; securing the sports park development contract was important for the company due to the significant social and economic benefits it brings for residents in Turfrey’s Hastings home base. In addition to installing the roof and wall cladding of the main complex with Dimond Roofing’s Tricore® warm roofing system, the RANZ member also installed some clear sheeting on the walls and provided rainwater services to the complex.
Project Architect for Pacific Environments NZ Ltd, Tane Pratt describes entering the building under a simple canopy stating “Be the best you can be” – the objective of the trust being to dramatically improve community health and wellbeing in addition to driving high performance athletes to compete on the world stage. To the left of the entrance, around the café fenestration is a nod to a key supporter of the sports hall, Pak’n Save.
The eastern elevation at ground level features a concrete base which is imprinted with a “band saw” undulating pattern offset above by timber fins which provide virtual intrigue, morning sun shading and together this represents forestry from Hawkes Bay as an important social and economic link to the community.
Concrete precast wall panels wrap the base of the building to provide durable and low maintenance cladding which is offset by the dark metal cladding above. Along the southern end of the sports hall the exterior wall twists vertically and horizontally to allow the running tracks run off area to extend and also to provide for a indoor rock climbing wall in the future as funds become available.
Says Tane Pratt: “The training requirements for high performance athletes requires training to be conducted as per competition conditions without compromises which this sports hall achieves while allowing for versatility of sports and use of the facility for the wider community.
“The first floor comprises a communal kitchen and seating area promoting the cross pollination between Eastern Institute of Technology students, athletes and tenancy staff and this space overlooks the main entry providing expansive views of the sports hall”.
Pacific Environments
Pacific Environments is an environmentally considerate architectural practice supported by a team of over 30 passionate and dedicated architects, designers, and technicians. Over the last 60 years, Pacific Environments has been involved in a diverse range of projects including master planning and urban design, civic and community centres, commercial buildings, retirement villages, large and small-scale residential, community housing education facilities, and sports and recreation projects.