Launceston sports centre: Details of $43.6m Northern Suburbs recreation hub finally revealed

It’s been a rocky road paved with cost overruns and delays, but a new Tasmanian complex featuring nine courts, a 198-seat grandstand, rock climbing and gymnastics has taken a big step forward.

Render of the proposed $43.6m Northern Suburbs Community Recreation hub at 316-320 Invermay Rd, Mowbray. Picture: City of Launceston/ All Urban Planning

It has been a rocky road paved with cost overruns and delays, but a new Tasmanian sports complex featuring nine courts, a 198-seat grandstand, rock climbing and gymnastics has taken a big step forward.

Details of the future $43.6m Northern Suburbs Community Recreation Hub, located at 316–320 Invermay Rd, Mowbray, have been scant up until this point, but a development application filed with the City of Launceston by the Department of State Growth has finally put meat on the proposal’s bones.

The hub would feature seven indoor multipurpose courts, two outdoor half-courts, a 198-person grandstand, dedicated gymnastics area with a range of programs from child to adult, a rock climbing wall, a weightlifting, boxing and dojo space, and a cafe and other facilities.

The plans are contained within a development application filed with the City of Launceston by the Department of State Growth, which is taking the lead on a project involving all three levels of government.

Under the plans, the Northern Suburbs Community Centre at 49 George Town Rd, Newnham, and the Launceston PCYC at 146 Abbott St, Newstead, would both relocate into the hub.

Inside a disused warehouse at 316-320 Invermay Rd, Mowbray. Picture: Launceston City Council

The hub would be open 6am–11pm seven days’ a week, be serviced by 100 carparking spaces and contain approximately 10,000 sqm of usable indoor space and additional outdoor space.

A number of buildings on site would be demolished, while others retained and repurposed. The site is predominantly disused warehouses.

The hub is located immediately beside Mowbray Heights Primary School in a predominantly industrial area of the suburb.

Last month, Sports Minister Nic Street said the tender for Stage 1 early works, including demolition and site remediation, had been awarded to Tasmanian firm Anstie Constructions.

The recreation hub was first proposed as part of the $536m Launceston City Deal, which was signed in 2017.

316-320 Invermay Rd, Mowbray. Picture: Google Street View

A long process of community-led development on the proposal ensued, and the federal government committed $15m to the hub at the 2019 election.

Pre-Covid, the hub was costed at $15.6m, but the Mercury revealed earlier this year that the cost of its delivery had almost tripled to $43.6m.

The state government was forced to tip in an additional $27m on its initial $500,000 spend earlier this year, with the City of Launceston ultimately providing $1.1m.

A government spokeswoman previously told the Mercury that the cost overruns were due to the “scope of the project changing over time”.

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A 2018 business case into the project identified approximately $125m of benefits flowing from the new hub, which was chosen for Launceston’s northern suburbs because of the area’s historical struggle with disadvantage.

Another key driver of the hub has been the shortage of basketball and netball courts in the state’s North.

In August, the Northern Tasmania Sports Facility Plan, compiled by consultants Ross Planning, found that the North had an under-supply of 12 basketball courts and eight netball courts, when compared with population and participation figures.

“Anyone involved in either basketball or netball will already know that there simply aren’t enough courts available to cater for their particular competitions,” Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood previously said.