Architect Selected To Design New Pavilion At Blenheim’s A&P Park

Friday, 31 January 2025, 8:23 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

A Nelson architect has been picked to design the new pavilion planned for Marlborough’s A&P Park after a dozen proposals were put forward to the council.

The Marlborough District Council narrowed those 12 proposals down to three for “closer review” before deciding to select JTB Architects to design the build.

The proposed pavilion - at the home of Marlborough Football, the Marlborough Farmers’ Market, and the A&P Show - was talked about as early as 2011 in a sports facilities plan.

It was in the 2015-25 long-term plan that it was first pencilled into the council’s plans, budgeted back then at $1.7 million, and expected to be delivered between 2019 and 2020.

An information package prepared for an assets and services meeting this week said the parks and open spaces team at the council were delighted there were 24 registrations that requested information to design the new pavilion.

From there, 12 proposals came through, with 11 “qualifying” for initial assessment, the report said.

Having selected JTB Architects, the council said it would begin discussions shortly around the “scope of the project”.

JTB Architects’ website showed they had designed a number of other Marlborough buildings in recent years, including Marlborough Vintners Winery, the New Zealand Wine Centre/Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa and Bragato Research Institute.

A council spokesperson said a timeframe could not be confirmed until the discussions around the scope of the project were completed.

That scope would flesh out building materials, the size of the building and changing rooms, colours, meeting rooms and office space.

The spokesperson said the panel was impressed with JTB Architects’ previous involvement with the designing and builds of community spaces.

The council last year agreed it wanted to move where the new pavilion would be constructed from its current position.

It came after it hired a consultant in 2023 to investigate how different groups used the park, and provide the council with a master plan that investigated a “possible reconfiguration” for the park.

The master plan laid out all the uses for the park and where each group would use it.

The final draft master plan was presented to the council in July 2024, which set out two options: to build a new pavilion in the centre of the park where the now-demolished grandstand was located, or build it in the location of the current pavilion.

Council staff preferred the first option, as did the park’s stakeholders, as they could keep using the old pavilion while the new one was being built. Later, extra car parks would replace the old pavilion.

The draft plan said the new location would have the best possible view over the wider park, and likely better revenue potential.

The master plan budgeted $637,000 for demolition of the old pavilion and changing rooms, the southeast stables and Alabama Rd building, as well as $10.2m to build the new sports hub, $668,000 for refurbishing the heritage sheep pens, horse measuring stand and entry gates, and $5m for new sealed and gravel car parks, pathways, landscaping and a raised pedestrian crossing on Maxwell Rd.

However, council parks and open spaces manager Robert Hutchinson told the council at the time that any costs would be worked through further down the line, and brought back to council for approval.

He said the budget estimates were “based on Auckland prices” and Marlborough had a history of delivering projects for much less, including a $4.8m Lansdowne Park sports hub, and the new Punawai hockey hub which was said to have come in at just over $3m.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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