{"id":385207,"date":"2026-04-18T03:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/385207\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T03:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:22:08","slug":"tect-confirms-5m-funding-for-new-badminton-and-multisport-centre-in-tauranga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/385207\/","title":{"rendered":"Tect confirms $5m funding for new badminton and multisport centre in Tauranga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bay of Plenty Badminton general manager of community and development Delwyn Cooper first pitched the facility to Tauranga City Council<\/a> in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than 15 years, I\u2019ve been working toward the vision of a purpose-built badminton facility in Tauranga because I know what it can mean for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper said there were limited courts for badminton to hire, and it was always competing with other sports for court time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants the facilities at the same time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other issue is that with the facilities that we do use, a combination of school gyms and council facilities, we often are kicked out when other events take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper said clubs were at capacity. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are constantly worried about being able to offer a great experience for the players we currently have \u2013 we don\u2019t want to lose them due to not being able to play badminton as much as they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BayBay of Plenty Badminton general manager of community and development Delwyn Cooper. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

She said a new facility would give the consistency of court time for local clubs and the community. <\/p>\n

The centre will have 16 badminton courts, or eight purpose-built badminton courts and two multi-sports courts, with timber-sprung flooring accredited by the International Basketball Federation and Badminton World Federation. <\/p>\n

The whole site is 7500sq m, and is expected to have 53 car parks. <\/p>\n

The multicourt venue will accommodate basketball, netball, futsal, pickleball, and volleyball, and be located on an elevated site at Tatua Reserve on Newton St. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only going to meet the current needs, but it will unlock the opportunity to advance badminton to a whole new level within the Tauranga region,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

She said the association had resource and building consent and was \u201cready to go\u201d, but needed more funding.<\/p>\n

Bay of Plenty Badminton are seeking an additional $5 million in funding to progress the project, and discussions were underway with a potential contributor for a further $3 million.<\/p>\n

Cooper said local clubs had played a significant role in advancing the project so far. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve helped fund all the feasibility in a big chunk of the business case; they\u2019ve been saving, and put money towards resource consent and building consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility will also support the Aims Games<\/a>, where badminton participation grew from 325 players in 2024 to 361 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Bay of Plenty Badminton chairman Graeme Neilson said the TECT funding decision was a \u201cmajor step\u201d forward for local indoor sport.<\/p>\n

\"AA render of the centre which is expected to have 16 badminton courts and a total site of about 7500sq m.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Nielson said the community had been asking for more indoor court space for a long time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis funding brings a purpose-built, multi-use facility much closer to reality and will support badminton, other indoor sports, and community connection while easing pressure on existing venues across Tauranga.\u201d<\/p>\n

TECT Community Trust confirmed the funding following community feedback during consultation on the trust\u2019s 2026\/2027 funding plans. <\/p>\n

Feedback highlighted a shortage of indoor court space, with sports relying on school halls and shared venues, leading to cancellations, limited training, and clubs turning people away due to capacity constraints.<\/p>\n

Chairman Mark Arundel said the region was \u201cgrowing quickly\u201d and indoor facilities were under \u201creal pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvesting helps ensure communities have safe, accessible spaces to be active all year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arundel said community feedback showed \u201cstrong support\u201d for the overall direction of TECT\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly the need to address longstanding gaps in community facility infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said demand was only going to increase as the population grew and more people looked for \u201cflexible\u201d indoor options for sport and recreation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about creating and supporting spaces that people value and rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n

TECT Community Trust Distribution Plan <\/p>\n

Under the confirmed plan, TECT will distribute $39,323,714 across the following funding areas:<\/p>\n

Community Facilities: $5,898,557<\/p>\n

Community Events: $1,966,186<\/p>\n

Community Development: $7,864,743<\/p>\n

Facilities of Regional Significance: $17,695,671<\/p>\n

Catalyst for Change: $5,898,557<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bay of Plenty Badminton general manager of community and development Delwyn Cooper first pitched the facility to Tauranga…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39052,95,26228,1550,13242,2082,738,78,42489,117,111,43,139,69,1227,71936],"class_list":{"0":"post-385207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-5m","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-badminton","11":"tag-centre","12":"tag-confirms","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-funding","15":"tag-in","16":"tag-multisport","17":"tag-new","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-tauranga","23":"tag-tect"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}