Waimairi Road Community Centre Refurbishment

The beating heart of many a neighbourhood is its community centre, often pulling duty as a place for meetings, childcare centre, dance hall, sports club and as a venue for hire.

Community centres play a vital role in cementing the sense of community feeling and many communities would be poorer for their absence.

Citycare Property – putting the heart back into the community

Citycare Property was recently tasked with the role of refurbishing the Waimairi Road Community Centre in the inner-western suburb of Ilam in Christchurch.

“The works included upgrades to the existing fire prevention and HVAC systems, asbestos removal, replacement of the roof and guttering, refinishing of timber flooring, full interior repaint and general tidying up of the garden areas,” says Project Manager Tim Gaston.

Waimairi Community Centre comprises two main spaces, a small hall and a large hall with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. The Citycare Property team removed the existing HVAC system and replaced it with two, split-system hi-wall units in the small hall and with two, split-system ceiling-suspended units in the large hall. An additional cassette unit was also installed in the hallway.

Existing fire hoses were decommissioned and replaced with fire extinguishers in both halls and the kitchen, while heat detectors were updated in storage areas. The existing roof and guttering was also replaced.

Citycare Property – supporting business as usual

Several cosmetic improvements were also made including the sanding and refinishing of all timber floors, a full interior repaint and exterior window frames along with other external touches.

“Given the popularity of the centre — it’s one of the council’s busiest community centres — the Citycare Property team only had a limited amount of time in which to complete the works, which also had to take into account the other users of the space,” says Luke Merryweather, Project Support Manager.