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USC to build $10million indoor sports stadium
The University of the Sunshine Coast has announced the start of construction of a $10 million indoor sports stadium.
Groundwork has been completed and the slab is expected to be poured next week for the 3705 square metre stadium which will be used for University and community sporting events and as a 3000-seat auditorium.
The air-conditioned stadium will be built by May 2007. It will be the size of three basketball courts and will be used for basketball, netball, futsal (indoor soccer), volleyball and badminton, as well as for graduation ceremonies and examinations.
The stadium will have spectator seating, multi-purpose rooms, a tutorial room, office first aid room, officials room, toilet/changeroom amenities and storage rooms.
Funding was provided by USC and the State Government. The Department of Education provided $2million while the Department of Sport and Recreation provided $900,000 to USC to help build the stadium to get more Queenslanders active through sport and recreation.
In conjunction with the stadium announcement, the University launched a $3.5million public fundraising campaign for the construction of a Health and Sport Centre to be built alongside the indoor sports stadium.
USC Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Thomas said this campaign would be an opportunity for the community to be involved in a project that will have direct implications for the health of the community.
Professor Thomas said construction of the indoor sports stadium and the planned Health and Sport Centre was the beginning of a new era for the University, which this year celebrated its 10th birthday.
"In our first 10 years, we have concentrated most heavily on developing our academic programs,’’ he said.
"This Health and Sport precinct will provide a base for future research in an area of major importance to the Sunshine Coast and for sporting activities for students."
USC Centre for Healthy Activities, Sport and Exercise (CHASE) director Brendan Burkett said the Health and Sport Centre would enable USC to do further research which would directly benefit the community.
"The Health and Sport Centre will give us that conduit to reach out into the community," he said. "It will help us deliver services to medical professionals on the Coast as well as patients."
He said disease management was likely to be one of the main areas of research at the Health and Sport Centre, along with clinical exercise science, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation and the development of a fall prevention program.
The planned five-storey Health and Sport Centre will become the headquarters of USC’s Health and Sport precinct. It will be built alongside the indoor sports stadium and will be used for research that will benefit people of all ages across the Sunshine Coast.
The centre will be built in two phases and will be part of USC’s Building Excellence Campaign.
Phase 1 will be construction of the first two storeys and will include health testing and research laboratories, a fitness centre and the customised premises of the Centre for Health Activities, Sport and Exercise (CHASE). This phase of the development is expected to cost $3.5million.
Phase 2 will be the construction of the three higher storeys which will be used for research and technology development.