A new community building has arrived at the Hāwea Domain, a significant step in the transformation of the 44-hectare public reserve, opening it up to more gatherings and events for the Hāwea community.

When it opens - hoped to be by the end of February - the 155sqm building will significantly expand the domain’s facilities, which until now has included little more than a single portaloo.

“It’s a super building,” Hāwea Domain Board treasurer Errol Carr said. “One half is one open room that used to be a classroom; this will be a community room for meetings and functions.

“The other half contains toilets, a shower, kitchen and smaller meeting room.”

Errol said it would serve as clubrooms for the local pony and riding clubs that operate on the domain but also a “community building available for community functions”.

It also ties in with the goal of the domain board - an incorporated society with charitable status - to work with Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to make the most of the domain, which has been a public reserve for around a century.

“Our vision for the domain is we see it as what Hagley Park is for Christchurch - an area for sport and passive recreation,” Errol said. 

It is currently a quiet place used by dog walkers, occasional picnickers and just a few groups. While the domain board is determined to retain its sense of “peace, harmony and tranquility”, the building brings much-needed facilities.

“It makes the domain more accessible and more usable for the community at large.” 

The new 155sqm community building is currently sitting on piles at the Hāwea Domain but finishing touches will be completed soon before it opens to the community. PHOTO: Supplied

Getting the building to the domain has been around 18 months in the making. It was offered to the domain board by Te Kura O Tititea Mount Aspiring College, where it was surplus to requirements after redevelopment, and after fundraising and consenting were complete it was moved on-site in late November.

“Now it’s sitting there on piles ready for the remaining work to be done,” Errol said.

Once it has a septic tank, water and power connections, water storage tanks for firefighting and car parking completed, the total cost of the project is expected to come in at around $200,000.

With a new build of a similar size likely to cost in the vicinity of $650,000, it is a “cost effective solution” which Errol said may well suit the needs of the domain for the next 10–15 years, buying time before a purpose-built community facility is needed.

Errol said the board planned to hold an open day event once the building is ready.

“There’s so many new people in the Lake Hāwea township and valley - most would not even know the domain is there,” he said.

“We want to increase the awareness that this is a community resource and an increasingly important amenity for the Hāwea community.”