Friday 22 March 2013

New Community Centre For South Brighton

Christchurch City Council is moving the closed QEII Park Preschool building to the site of the demolished South Brighton Community Centre where it is expected to re-open as a transitional community facility in June.

To minimise disruption to residents, the QEII Park Preschool building will be relocated to the South Brighton Community Centre site in Beatty Street in the early hours of Thursday 28 March. The International Association of the Lions Clubs, which assisted the Council to set up the transitional St Albans Community Centre last year, is funding the relocation of the preschool building to the community centre site.

The building will remain on blocks on the site while foundations are built before being lifted on to them by crane at the end of April. The building will then be repaired and refurbished.

Mayor Bob Parker says this is another example of a collaboration between the Council and the Lions that will benefit a community that needs a place to gather.

"It's wonderful that one of our hardest hit communities will get a much-loved facility back for the first time since the February earthquake. The Council recognised the importance of the community centre to South Brighton residents when it identified it as one of its priority facilities.

"Putting a transitional facility on site will ensure that we are able to give South Brighton its community centre back sooner than if we had to wait for a permanent building to be completed."

Lions District Governor Peter Mechaelis says the Lions is pleased to work with the Council to offer a transitional facility which will help the South Brighton community's recovery post-earthquake.

"We've seen how successful the transitional community centre is in St Albans and how warmly residents have welcomed it. We're looking forward to seeing another transitional facility come to fruition in South Brighton," he says.

The significantly damaged South New Brighton Community Centre closed after the February 2011 earthquake and was demolished last month. The QEII Park Preschool building has been closed since the February 2011 earthquake and the Council announced it was closing the preschool service permanently in May 2011.

South Brighton Community Centre is one of 30 projects which in September 2012 the Council approved for funding, further investigations and, where possible, repairs. Future options for the site are continuing to be explored as part of the Council's Facilities Rebuild Plan programme.

For more information about the Council's Facilities Rebuild Plan project, visit www.ccc.govt.nz/facilitiesrebuild

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