Griffith City Council has been crowned winner of the Asset and Infrastructure Award at the NSW Local Government Excellence Awards.
The award, for projects over $1.5million - population under 150,000, was presented to Council for the Griffith Regional Sports Centre redevelopment. This award recognises initiatives that maximise benefits to the community, showcasing projects that develop and manage community assets.
The multi-purpose development completed in 2022, is an excellent example of federal, state and local government coming together with sporting stakeholders to deliver a wonderful outcome for the community.
Griffith Mayor Doug Curran said it was a great achievement for Griffith to take home this award ahead of nine other NSW councils.
"To win the best project in NSW is incredible. I couldn't be prouder of our team, thank you to all involved, especially Max Turner who was the driving force. Many years of planning and consultation with the user groups and Griffith City Sports Council have seen this facility come to life," Councillor Curran said.
"This facility will bring prosperity to our community for many years to come. It will also enable athletes from Griffith and the region to train and play on surfaces normally only seen in metro locations, hopefully developing them into the sporting stars of the future."
The Centre now features a state-of-the art, compliant regional and state standard facility.
It delivers new facilities for basketball, netball, hockey and athletics, creating an inclusive regional sports hub for the Western Riverina.
The redevelopment has seen Westend Stadium completely transformed. The existing stadium was refurbished with a new roof and air-conditioning, new toilet amenities and function rooms. A new purpose-built building has extended the Centre to feature five additional indoor basketball courts, adaptable for netball, indoor hockey, badminton, wheelchair rugby and volleyball.
The Centre offers seating for over 1,500 people, new change rooms, offices, meeting rooms, kiosks and public amenities.
Outside, the complex boasts seven all-weather netball courts under lights, a new grandstand to provide spectator comfort to the facilities. A synthetic athletics track allows local athletes to train and compete on a compliant, high-performance track and an artificial turf hockey pitch provides a high-quality all-weather, water-based surface for players.
Council wishes to thank all the local sports associations and the Griffith Sports Council who collaborated on this project.
