Council puts $1.4m price on Showgrounds grandstand fix

One of Gympie’s most popular venues could finally be getting some love after suffering 40 years of ‘wear and tear’.

Gympie council is being reocmmended to pump $1.4m into fixing the showground’s 41-year-old grandstand. Photo Craig Warhurst / The Gympie Times

New details have emerged on what’s next for one of Gympie’s iconic sporting facilities in need of serious repairs.

Councillors have been recommended to explore pumping an extra $1.4m into repairing the Showgrounds grandstand as part of a wider suite of works at the Southside site.

The recommendation, made by the council’s own procurement panel, was made at Wednesday’s general meeting.

The panel said the council should consider doing the necessary upgrades to the structure once third party group Black and More finish analysing what needs to be done, and what needs to be done first.

It recommended the funding, if given the green light by the council, be spread across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years (with the possibility of it being pushed into the 2025-26 year).

Showgrounds oversight committee chairman Warren Smith said he was unaware of any specifics planned but any improvements to the 41-year-old grandstand would be welcome.

While new projects like the Pavilion have been built at the Gympie Showgrounds across the decades, the chairman of the grounds’ oversight committee Warren Smith said the grandstand had largely been left unchanged in the 41 years since it had been built.

“(In 41 years) nothing really has been done,” Mr Smith said.

Having himself worked on its construction in 1981 “in 39.8 degree heat”, Mr Smith said it almost certainly no longer met modern day building codes.

The grandstand had naturally deteriorated with age, springing leaks in its roof and suffering from general “wear and tear”.

Disabled access was another area Mr Smith hoped any upgrades would fix.

“Any change is an improvement, isn’t it?” Mr Smith said.

Some upgrades to the grandstand are already in the works with the council’s procurement panel approving a $363,000 tender by Suttons Building Solutions for some initial, unidentified works.