Early this week, after an extensive evaluation process the successful tenderer to develop the new pavilions at Stribling Reserve was announced.
The successful company is BowdenCorp. Established in 2001 by Director James Bowden, BowdenCorp has offices in Melbourne and Geelong and specialises in Commercial and Residential Construction.
James Bowden, Founder and Director of BowdenCorp has been associated with Lorne for many years and has already undertaken a number of construction projects in Lorne including extension the to the Visitor Information Centre and renovation of the old Erskine Ballroom at Mantra. We believe that James’s knowledge of Lorne and local tradespeople will be a clear benefit for the project.
There will be two new pavilions constructed. A new netball pavilion will replace the existing pavilion adjacent to the netball court. The current netball pavilion does not have separate change facilities, showers or toilets. The new pavilion will include separate change facilities, umpires’ room, first aid room and showers and toilets including facilities for the disabled.
The new football pavilion will replace the existing facility known as the Leisure Centre. The existing indoor basketball stadium will remain. The pavilion will be a two storey building. The lower level will have separate home and away change facilities with separate showers and toilets. There will be facilities for umpires, first aid, a canteen and office. The upper storey, accessible by stairs and lift, will have social spaces able to be configured using sliding panels, a commercial kitchen, bar and viewing balcony. New facilities for scorers and timekeepers will be on this level.
Total funding for this project is approximately $6.7M. The Federal Government “Building Better Regions Fund” provided 50% of the funding with the other 50% was provided by Surf Coast Shire. It will be necessary to seek community funding for some items of fit-out and furnishings which are beyond the scope of the existing specification.
It is expected that development of the new Netball Pavilion will start very soon. The development of the new football pavilion requires some more work on design to ensure that the building will cater for a wide variety of uses including sporting, social and community and school activities. When the Stribling Reserve Master Plan was updated in 2017, we recognised that the main pavilion should indeed be a community hub and we want to ensure that we achieve that goal in design.
One aspect of design for both the site and the two pavilions, is that the new facilities will be fully DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant providing full accessibility in and between the buildings.
This is an exciting project for Stribling Reserve which will deliver benefits for the whole community.
Peter Spring
Stribling Reserve Committee of Management
