After nearly a year, the Whanganui District Council has formally received and released a review report on roofing Whanganui’s velodrome.

It includes an “alternative design”, prepared only since last December, for a long-run roofing iron structure.

Whanganui Regional Development Trust chair Leigh Grant, whose organisation has been working on an iconic tension membrane design since forming in 2014 and formally alongside the council since 2017, says a careful comparison will need to be made between the original tension membrane design and alternative design with a long-run iron roof, commissioned by the council.

Mr  Grant says:

• There isn’t enough detail yet published to enable a full comparison of this design with the original tension membrane design.
• It will be necessary to accurately compare the costs and the ability of each design to deliver what is needed for wider community use and sporting events.
• The original membrane roof design has had seven years to be fully assessed for future use, and has a resource consent in place, while the alternative design has only just been developed in recent months and needs a full assessment of its ability to deliver a fit for purpose solution.
• From our initial reading It appears that the design includes four steel poles down the central arena, which we already know will cause major issues for international competition and probably even national cycling competition, making it able to be used for local cycling only. We are not aware of any velodrome in the world with support poles such as this.
• The solution chosen for a roof for Whanganui’s velodrome must be fit for purpose as a multi- purpose facility. It should be able to cater for a range of sporting, cultural and community events, without affecting the use of other facilities.
• We look forward to the opportunity to discuss and compare the cost and other aspects of each design with the council, relevant experts and the facility users. It is important to ensure the right information is available to enable the right decision to be made with and on behalf our community. This information wasn’t made available to councillors on February 9.

It is understood the council will consider the issue again at a workshop before putting documents out for public consultation in March.

The council could make a final decision on which roofing option in May 2021.

These are some of images of an alternative long-run iron-clad velodrome included in the council’s February 9 agenda, containing the reviewer’s report.

The animated fly-through of the proposed Copeland tension membrane design for a multi-purpose facility is here:

http://raisetheveloroof.org.nz/new-animated-fly-through-the-velodrome-design-in-action/

The Solution

Roof the Velodrome. A revolutionary design has been proposed by Copeland Associates, which will provide a cost-effective solution to this long standing problem. A breathtaking dome structure, using membrane technology similar to London’s O2 Dome, would provide New Zealand’s largest single span roofed space and deliver protection for our wonderful velodrome at a fraction of the cost of a traditional roof.