A new clubroom is planned for Hāwea Domain, which the Hāwea Domain Board hopes will help more people make the most of the 40-acre reserve.

The domain, which is located between Lake Hāwea and Hāwea Flat, has been a public reserve for around a century and a few years ago a reserve management plan for the domain was adopted.

Hāwea Domain Board chair Geoff Hewson told the Wānaka App the board is planning to put an approximately 100sqm relocatable building on the reserve to be used as a clubroom “for all the future users of the domain”.

“It’s a great parcel of land that needs to be utilised more and having a clubroom will help with that,” he said.

The building, also billed as ‘community rooms’, will include a kitchen, bathroom, and a meeting room, he said.

It will be sited near the tennis courts, closer to Domain Road than the existing Hāwea Picnic Racing Club’s historic ‘President’s Lounge”, which Geoff said will remain untouched.

The new clubroom will be sited closer to Domain Road than the existing ‘President’s Lounge’ at the Hāwea Domain. 

The Hāwea Domain Board Inc was formed a few years ago to work in collaboration with Queenstown Lakes District Council to make the most of the domain. 

Read more: Domain to become ‘breathing space’ for the Hāwea community

The domain is currently underutilised - aside from the Hāwea Food Forest (a community garden) it is used by the Wānaka Hāwea Pony Club, and once a year for the annual Hāwea Picnic Races.

The $49,062 grant from Central Lakes Trust (CLT) will be “a great start” for the project, which Geoff says has a budget of around $130,000.

“We’re hoping for more grants, then we’ll be all go,” he said, adding that the board is hoping to make progress on the resource consent process next year.

Hāwea Domain is located at the Gladstone Road end of Domain Road.

The grant towards the new clubroom is part of the CLT September funding round, which supported 18 charitable projects across the region - totalling $1,298,826.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App