By Tanya Steele
The Powelltown pavilion upgrades are well and truly in full swing and the community is looking forward to having the space back for their sporting clubs in the area.
Secretary of the Powelltown Sporting Club Peter Podolinski said that the club is optimistic about the construction moving along.
“It’s taken a while for the construction to get underway. They had some problems with the footings,” he said.
“There was a lot of underground moisture that they weren’t expecting and they had to change the design.”
Mayor of Yarra Ranges Council, Councillor Jim Child said you can see that the pavilion is really starting to unfold on the ground now.
“I think it’s a credit to the group out there from the community. They’ve been lobbying for this facility for some time now,” he said.
The changes will see two buildings in one with changerooms at one end and social rooms at the other and Mr Podolinkski there’s a breezeway between the two.
“It becomes a real multi-purpose, purpose community facility,” he said.
“Our old Ashley Green pavilion which was built in 1970 and a 100-year-old classroom which was from Kaniva has now been completely demolished since December last year,” he said.
“We’re disappointed that the heritage has gone on, but you have to move with the times,” he said.
Cr Child said that the Council follows a process when it comes to renewing buildings like the pavilion across the Yarra Ranges.
“We follow a set process of renewing these types of assets, and Powelltown was due for it,” he said.
The main drive to upgrade the building stemmed from a need to accommodate the five netball teams and upgrade the space.
“The original one was built in 79 – So that’s 44 years ago, we had two football sides, that was all the facility was built for,” Mr Podolinksi said.
The pavilion is being built in accordance with the AFL and Netball Victoria Facility Guidelines and Powelltown FNC is looking forward to bringing their teams home.
“The roofs are about to go on and they are starting to do the internal walls and bricks and things,” Mr Podolinkski said.
Yarra Ranges Council were successful in securing a $1.5 million Federal Government Local Roads Community Infrastructure grant to support the delivery of this project in addition to other grant funding already secured for it.
Multiple pavilions across the outer east have been updated across the Yarra Ranges and Mr Podolinski commended the Yarra Ranges Council for their assistance in these projects.
“They’ve upgraded many pavilions in the last five or 10 years – Montrose, Wandin, Chirnside, Monbulk and Upwey,” he said.
“It’s great because you can have so many young people participating in sporting activities.”
Cr Child said that the while council is providing all those grassroots services and assets to our communities, they also need backing from higher levels.
“The State and the Federal governments got to be in there strongly supporting us as well,” he said.
The Powelltown Cricket teams will have a bit longer to wait out the redevelopment and will hit two seasons of play while the construction has been happening.
Powelltown FNC had a good season despite disruptions to their usual training and home game regimes and Mr Podolonksi said they are glad the construction is well underway.
“We’re all very much looking forward to being back at Powelltown and being together,” Mr. Podolonski said.
