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For more than a year Trafalgar Park in Nelson has been undegoing a major revamp. This month the work has been completed and the Park is ready to shine. Nelson now has both a sports park and a multi-event facility to rival any regional centre in New Zealand.
The Park is one of New Zealand's oldest sporting stadia, originally built for cricket in the 1880s. Over the years, the area has been developed to house a variety of different sports and entertainment activities and cater for increasing crowd numbers.
The stadium is ideally located a short five-minute walk from Nelson's city centre making it one of the country's most fan-friendly venues and ensuring a great event experience.
After its selection in 2009 as a match venue for two RWC 2011 matches, a $5.9 million upgrade began to enhance the stadium for 2011 and beyond.
In June this year eight large fixtures were erected to house 192 floodlights that make the Park about three times brighter during night games than the old lights, bringing it up to broadcast standards. The new lights won't disturb nearby residents as they are designed to focus the light inward toward the Park with only minimal spill on the neighbouring homes.
One of the most interesting and innovative features is the pitch which has been laid with turf made from recycled glass. The turf is the first of its kind to be used in the world and is leading the way in terms of environmental sustainability. The recycled glass sand replaces natural beach sand. A "sand carpet" is laid as the base level before the grass seed is sown with the remaining sand on top.
Basic facilities have also been upgraded to cater for the 20,000 strong crowds, including new toilet stalls, reconfigured entrance gates and improved ticketing facilities. To ensure its position as a multi-event venue, the Southern stand has been resurfaced to support a stage which will be used for concert events like Opera in the Park.
All that's left is to finish is the installation of the fencing that has been delayed until the end of July, and the media suite, which was a late addition thanks to funding from central government. It is the last of the major projects and will be completed in mid-August.
Landscaping around the stadium will be completed later this year, when the warmer, drier weather will help produce a better result. There will be lots of new planting going in on the grounds all around the Park and the pedestrian walkways.
The all new Trafalgar Park will host its first event on August 21 when the local Tasman Makos are welcomed back to Nelson for their game against Canterbury in the ITM Cup.
For RWC 2011, Trafalgar Park will host Italy v. Russia on September 20, followed by Italy vs. USA on September 27. Individual match tickets will be available from September this year from www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets.