How redevelopment of the KGV Oval cricket nets could see growth in Northern Regions
The Glenorchy Cricket Club is on the verge of upgrading its cricket nets to a state-of-the-art four lane indoor centre. Find out how it could happen and see inside the plans.
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A new state-of-the-art four lane high performance indoor training facility will be built at the Glenorchy Cricket Club.
In partnership with independent MP Andrew Wilkie, the Glenorchy City Council, and GHD, the club has outlined plans for a modern new clubhouse and a transformational community infrastructure upgrade which aims to deliver lasting benefits to the northern suburbs of Hobart.
The proposed upgrade will see the outdated facilities replaced with a contemporary clubhouse designed for community use year-round, and an elite indoor cricket centre capable of supporting junior development, high-performance training, and all-weather community access for multiple sports and a broad range of marginalised communities.
Glenorchy now has two outdoor nets but Mr Wilkie has promised an upgrade to a four lane indoor net centre and updated club rooms.
Club president Brett Geeves said it was something that would seriously help the club going forward.
“We currently work across two synthetic nets, one of them is constantly out of action because of the flow of water from our turf maintenance,” Mr Geeves said.
“So an indoor facility would increase our synthetic net availability and the construction of it won’t impact on any of the other infrastructure within the KGV Oval.
“It is a great opportunity for the Northern Suburbs region to be identified for something like this and from a club perspective, I think it is probably the most important.
“It’s just that connection to the community that we feel is quite important and if you look at the recent events there is a lot of disengagement throughout Glenorchy.
“A project like this just provides a great conduit to the community and just provides greater opportunity for the youngsters and the growth of our junior program.”
The current two lane nets sit on the northern side of KGV Oval, away from the main club house.
There have been two designs drawn up with the four lane indoor nets linking with the current cricket club changerooms and club house.
“As a cricket club, we moved to KGV Oval from ED Street in the mid to late 90s,” Mr Geeves said.
“Since then, the level of upgrade we have seen in our own clubhouse has been really minimal, so for us, basic amenities like toilets and kitchen are quite severely outdated.
“We explored opportunities to update those facilities, it became clear that the region was looking for something a little bigger and certainly the timing of the events this week with the youth disengagement, we feel the project is one that can act as conduit to create greater engagement for the greater northern region.”
KGV Oval was upgraded in 2015 by the Glenorchy Football Club with an updated club house which cost around $12 million.
The new cricket upgrade will cost between $6 million to $8 million.
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