Hornby Library and Customer Services, South West Leisure

Site description

The site of Denton Park is open and predominantly flat, with mature and semi-mature trees around most of the perimeter of the park and around Denton Oval. The site is a relatively simple rectangular shape with a single street frontage to Main South Road. Its total area is approximately 71,230 square metres (including Denton Oval).

Vehicle access and car parking is located around the park edge accessed from Main South Road and Chalmers Street. In addition to access from these two streets, pedestrian and cycle access is also from Kathleen Crescent to the west of the park.

Denton Oval is a key feature of the site, but it also contains sports fields and batting nets, sport clubrooms and a Council water pump station.

Denton Park is bounded by the southern railway line to the north, with Kyle Park located further to the north again. Denton Park is linked to Kyle Park, which is located to the north of the railway line, by a pedestrian underpass beneath the railway line, which is a significant barrier to the level of connection between the parks.

The Hornby commercial centre is located to the east of Denton Park. The commercial centre provides a wide range of retail, commercial and service activities as well as access to public transport. The interface between the park and commercial centre is comprised of car parking, which dominates this eastern edge, business servicing, fencing and the rear side of commercial development blocks. The pedestrian access leading to Kyle Park is also located on the eastern boundary.

To the west of the park is a suburban residential neighbourhood, comprising predominantly single storey housing accessed from Kathleen Crescent. This area was recently rezoned from a Residential Suburban to Residential Medium Density zone, with future increases in housing density anticipated within this area. The park’s western boundary primarily comprises high, close-boarded fences where houses back on to the park, with tree and shrub planting located on the park edge. Main South Road forms the southern boundary to the site.

Within 10 minutes' walking distance is a large suburban residential catchment – including opportunity for further residential development, existing and proposed cycle routes, industrial and commercial uses and a range of smaller community-based uses such as parks.

Site strengths

• Provides an ideal opportunity to create a civic heart to the community it serves, supporting the existing extensive range of commercial, industrial and community activities within the vicinity.
• Provides an opportunity for a great outlook for a new facility and integration with existing park users.
• Ideally located with links to the bus interchange, a proposed major cycleway and established pedestrian routes. It is also located near schools, retail, healthcare and cultural activity centres, creating opportunities for multi-purpose trips.
• The site provides high-profile visibility and significant passing traffic on Main South Road, and could provide ease of access for visitors. This may increase membership and community participation levels, becoming a strong asset to the whole community.
• There is sufficient land area for a combined facility, supporting the Council’s move towards providing community hubs.
• The land is already Council-owned, freeing up money for investment in the facilities.
• Favourable ground conditions are expected (subject to detailed investigations).
• May provide opportunities to upgrade the existing sports fields, thereby enabling higher usage rates (particularly through the winter seasons), and promote better utilisation rates of both Denton and Kyle Parks. Offers high compatibility with existing usages and offers the potential to create new partnerships.
• Provides an opportunity to increase the quality and safety of the area, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, through development.

Site challenges

• This area is already a busy hub. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has a specific interest as the current access to Denton Park is provided via State Highway 1 (a high-volume national road). The project will need to ensure access is not constrained nd/or overburdened. This may require further changes to the site, including new primary or secondary accesses being formed, along with limiting the potential for U-turns on the state highway.
• Existing car parking is limited and at capacity. The proposed activities would provide an approximate 150–200 additional car park spaces for the area, with the potential for further overflow parking. This may be provided via a number of solutions – distributing parking spaces around the site to leave more room for sports fields, as well as providing cycle, pedestrian and public transport connections and facilities.
• The likely impacts are the loss of one rugby field and some amenity to the park which would reduce the current cricketing boundaries. This may also affect the old scout hall, which is currently used by Kyokushin Karate. However there are opportunities to improve the facilities on Denton and Kyle parks and to accommodate any displaced sports activity within the immediate area.
• The cost of improving Denton and Kyle parks, or other spaces, to accommodate any displaced sports users.
• Denton Park suffers from elevated rates of crime and some areas have poor visibility, particularly the underpass through to Kyle Park. Although this is a challenge, the project provides an opportunity to improve and mitigate these issues and would also potentially improve the approaches to the underpass.
• The perimeter of Denton Park can be hard to get to, with adjacent features (Main South Road, the railway line, vehicle parking and the neighbouring development). The visual recognition of Denton within the wider neighbourhood is relatively low, with the exception of visibility from Main South Road. However, the proposal provides an opportunity to address these issues more generally.
• About 8000 square metres (11 per cent) of Denton Park currently used for outdoor recreation purposes would instead be used as a space for the facility and associated parking.
• The proposed use of this part of Denton Park is inconsistent with the current reserve classification (recreation reserve), and the Denton Park Management Plan 1987. Building the facility will require a change of reserve classification for Denton Park to Local Purpose (Community Buildings) Reserve, and a change to the Management Plan.

Site description

The site of Kyle Park is irregular in shape – a narrow wedge shape, with both flat and hilly areas. The park contains a wetland, BMX track, open flat areas and landscaped areas with mature and semi-mature trees. There is no formalised vehicle access within the site, but there are a series of pedestrian and cycle connections to and through the site. The park has an extensive street frontage which is open to Waterloo Road and allows a high degree of visibility into the park. The total area is approximately 87,201 square metres (including BMX track and retention basin).

Waterloo Road forms the northwest boundary of the site. Hornby Primary School, Hornby High School and a residential area are immediately to the north-northwest of Waterloo Road. The school fronts onto Waterloo Road, as do the residential properties. The residential area was recently rezoned from a Residential Suburban zone to Residential Medium Density zone, with future increases in housing density anticipated.

The industrial area on Smarts Road comprises the eastern boundary of Kyle Park, with the front generally comprising close-boarded fences and landscaping. The railway is also located to the south, dividing Kyle from Denton Park, with the only connection between the parks being the underpass beneath the railway line.

The Hornby commercial centre is also located to the south of Kyle Park. The commercial centre provides a wide range of retail, commercial and service activities as well access to public transport. However, the railway line means there is no safe, direct connection from the commercial centre to Kyle Park. The interface between the park and commercial centre is comprised of fencing, car parking, businesses and large retail stores.

Site strengths

• Kyle Park would offer a facility within good general proximity to the Hornby community and will offer opportunity for reasonable outlook and integration with surrounding activities including the schools and park.
• Its location is on the route of a proposed major cycleway, and it currently offers pedestrian access via the underpass to Denton Park to the bus interchange. The site is also located near schools, retail, healthcare and cultural activity centres, creating opportunities for multi-purpose trips.
• The site has reasonable visibility and passing traffic, and can provide relative ease of access for visitors despite constraints such as the railway. It may promote membership and community participation levels.
• Kyle Park is within an area identified for an increase in residential density, supporting increased community activity within the area. An extensive and open street frontage to the site allows for clear visibility, and the opportunity to provide an environment with good views.
• There is sufficient land area for a combined facility, supporting the Council’s move towards providing community hubs.
• The land is already Council-owned, freeing up money for investment in the facilities.
• May provide opportunities to upgrade the existing sports fields. This will enable higher usage rates (particularly through the winter seasons) and promote better use of both Denton and Kyle parks, and the potential to create new partnerships.

Site challenges

• Kyle Park has poor ground conditions and is a contaminated site due to previous landfill activities.
• A significant amount of the budget would be required for ground remediation. This extra cost means that the size of any facility at this location would be substantially smaller by up to 25 per cent (or 1000 square metres), resulting in the community receiving far less at this location.
• This area of Hornby is already an extremely busy hub. NZTA has a specific interest due to the proximity to State Highway 1 (a high volume national road) and the junction with Waterloo Road. The extra traffic generated by the facility would add to congestion when school is starting and finishing. Site access would need to be considered, as would any work required along Waterloo Road to slow traffic. Pedestrian facilities would be required and the intersection of Gilberthorpes/Moffett/Parker/Waterloo may need to be reviewed.
• Kyle Park is not directly connected to the Hornby Hub, and any facility located on Kyle will not contribute to the development of a “Civic Heart” for Hornby. If anything, it may dilute the heart by spreading facilities. Kyle has a boundary with a rail line and light commercial area, which is not optimal.
• Existing car parking is limited and at capacity. The proposed activities would provide an approximate 150–200 additional car park spaces for the area, with the potential for further overflow parking. This may be provided via a number of solutions – distributing parking spaces around the site to leave more room for sports fields, as well as providing cycle, pedestrian and public transport connections and facilities. Access to public transport facilities is less direct, safe and accessible than that of Denton Park.
• The likely impacts are the loss of one lower-grade cricket field and one football field. Council staff would work with any affected stakeholders to try and find the best solutions for them. There are opportunities to accommodate any displaced sports locally.
• Kyle Park suffers from elevated rates of crime and some areas have poor visibility, particularly the underpass through to Denton Park. Although this is a challenge, the project provides an opportunity to improve and mitigate these issues and would also potentially improve the approaches to the underpass.
• About 8000 square metres (nine per cent) of Kyle Park currently used for outdoor recreation purposes would instead be used as a space for the facility and associated parking.
• The proposed use of the majority part (Lot 1 DP 25716) of Kyle Park is inconsistent with the current reserve classification (recreation reserve). The minority part (Lot 2 DP 34558) of Kyle Park is inconsistent with its current status as recreation reserve (however, may not be classified as such). It is also inconsistent with the Management Plan 1993 (as an attractive and hospitable suburban park, primarily for active recreation of various types, with cycle and pedestrian through routes to be managed as a recreational open space for use as an area for organised outdoor sport). Therefore, changing the use of parts of Kyle Park will require a change of reserve classification (to Local Purpose (Community Buildings) Reserve) and a change to the Management Plan.
• Part of Kyle Park is subject to an operative lease to a BMX club.

Site description

Warren Park is open and mainly flat, with a combination of shelter belt-style planting, and mature and semi-mature trees around most of the perimeter. Sports fields largely used for football and cricket take up most of the park. The total area is approximately 155,296 square metres.

The site is triangular in shape with an open street frontage to Oakley Crescent, an established suburban residential street, and Wilmers Road, which is semi-rural/industrial in nature. Shelter belt planting runs along Wilmers Road to the outheast of the site. Close boarded fences are located on the northwest boundary where houses back onto the park.

Pedestrian access is mainly off Oakley Crescent, with a narrow pedestrian connection to Springs Road to the northwest. The street layout, and lack of destinations in the area, mean pedestrian and cycle use is variable. Public transport routes are located on Springs and Awatea roads. Although these are a short walk from Warren Park, the quality of the Springs Road pedestrian access is low.

There is car parking on the frontage with Oakley Crescent, close to the playground.

Warren Park has industrial zoning on two sides to the southwest and southeast, with some of this land currently still rural. The remainder of the area surrounding Warren Park is made up of existing or proposed residential development, including Wigram Skies to the northeast and Awatea to the east.

Aside from the industrial and residential activity, there is little else in terms of retail, service or community activity within the area, including within a 10 minute walking distance of Warren Park.

Site strengths

• There is an overall perception of lower vehicle congestion around this site. However Springs Road at the Amyes/Awatea roads intersection is becoming increasingly busy and will come under consideration for traffic lights in time. Volumes on all these roads is growing, in part due to the residential growth in the area along with the Selwyn District.
• The site benefits from passing traffic and a major road in close proximity, however lacks a strong visual presence from the street.
• There is sufficient land area for a combined facility, supporting the Council’s move towards providing community hubs.
• The land is already Council-owned, freeing up money for investment in the facilities.
• May provide opportunities to upgrade the existing sports fields. This will enable higher usage rates (particularly through the winter seasons) and promote better use of Warren Park, and the potential to create new partnerships.
• Provides an opportunity to increase community-based activity and services within that area.
• The site is open to the adjacent residential development, with a good length of street frontage.

Site challenges

• The site offers restricted connectivity for those without a vehicle and will therefore not provide equitable access to all citizens, particularly children or those people with limited means to independently access the facilities.
• Public transport is available from Awatea and Springs roads. However, further direct pedestrian connections and associated bus facilities would be required. Further investment would also be required to improve pedestrian and active transport connections which may reduce the money available for the building.
• The site is outside any identified key activity centre and would not support multi-purpose trips for user groups and does not contribute to the development of a "Civic Heart". If anything, it will dilute the heart by spreading facilities.
• The site offers poor accessibility to the core service areas of Hei Hei and Masham. The site is just five kilometres from Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre (which includes a library, customer service and outdoor pool).
• NZTA may have some interest due to the connections to State Highway 76 and the junction with Springs Road, however this road is likely to come under local authority control once the southern arterial is completed, so this is of a lesser concern.
• Car movements within the area could increase due to the placement of a large facility on the very southern fringe.
• Subject to the design of the facility, one or two football fields could be lost. This may also affect seasonal cricket. Council staff would work with any affected stakeholders to try and find the best solutions for them. There are opportunities to accommodate any displaced sports locally.
• Warren Park presently experiences low levels of crime and antisocial behaviour, as do the surrounding properties. Minor graffiti and some fly-tipping is evident on Wilmers Road. Opportunities could be taken to improve and mitigate these issues within the project planning and design phases.
• About 8000 square metres (five per cent) of Warren Park currently used for outdoor recreation purposes would instead be used as a space for the facility and associated car parking
• The proposed use of part of Warren Park is inconsistent with the current reserve classification (recreation reserve), and the Management Plan 1986 (to be principally used for active team sports but also for casual and passive recreational activities). Therefore, to facilitate the proposed change of use of part of Warren Park will require a change of reserve classification (to Local Purpose (Community Buildings) Reserve) and a change to the Management Plan.

Other possible locations

Is there another possible location we have missed that could meet the criteria and give the community a fantastic facility? If so, please have your say on the response form.

The table that follows summarises several sites that were assessed but didn’t make it onto the shortlist.

A co-located facility would offer a number of benefits by reducing the costs to the Council, both now and over time. These include:

Capital Expenditure estimated savings of $2.5 million

• Reduces horizontal infrastructure requirements (water, waste, power, and telecommunications)
• Spatial efficiencies (shared common spaces)
• Savings on plant, equipment and building services (transformer sizing, mechanical ventilation and heating, fire, data and security)
• One Building Management System (BMS), with opportunities to improve overall building performance
• Savings on construction costs (efficiencies with Preliminaries and General costs, supervision and professional service fees). Operational Expenditure estimated savings of $150,000 per year
• Reduced power consumption
• Staffing efficiencies (shared service receptions)
• Security and monitoring costs
• Shared asset management and overheads
• Annual maintenance reductions (a more efficient building envelope)
• Improved Cost of Consumption (CoC) over time.

Co-location makes the most of the potential for community interaction, allowing the sharing of knowledge or ideas for mutual enrichment which can actively strengthen communities, creating an integrated civic heart and one-stop shop.

It also provides the opportunity for single-destination multipurpose trips to occur, which reduces overall traffic movements and maximises overall participation rates and long-term financial viability.

The facilities listed below could be included within a co-located facility:

Note: co-located facilities would allow for more amenities to be delivered.

Approximately 150–200 new car parking spaces would be needed. This will depend on the final provisions, how close the facility is to both public and active transport means, and the consenting requirements. Further overflow parking may also be provided subject to location and availability.

Because separate facilities cost more – both now and over time – the Council may not be able to provide as much to the community as what a co-located facility would offer.

Separate facilities would allow services to be shared across communities, however this may mean some careful decisions around what can and cannot be included. Furthermore as further site assessment studies may be required, the project may be prolonged.

Separate facilities could be made up as below:

Once the site(s) has been chosen and the configuration worked out, it’s essential that everyone has the chance to stay involved with the evolution of the design of these facilities. The Council is exploring a number of ways to keep the community involved.

The Libraries Facilities Plan (May 2015):  

• www.christchurchcitylibraries.com/2025/Libraries2025FacilitiesPlan.pdf(external link)
• www.christchurchcitylibraries.com/2025/(external link)

Citizen Hub Strategy

• www.ccc.govt.nz/the-council/plans-strategies-policies-and-bylaws/strategies/(external link)

Christchurch City Council – South West Area Plan:

• www.ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/The-Council/Plans-Strategies-Policies-Bylaws/Plans/area-plans/south-west/SWAP2009FinalDocumentLR-southwest.pdf(external link)

CERA Land Use Recovery Plan:

• www.ceraarchive.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/Documents/land-use-recovery-plan.pdf(external link)