Letter to Members from Eltham Club

February 5 2018

Eltham Football Club
Eltham Cricket Club
Eltham Junior Football Club

To All Members

Re: Eltham Central Park Pavilion and Community Hub Re-Development

In my previous letter to members around 12 or so months ago, I advised that The Eltham Club on behalf of the 3 co-tenant sporting clubs at Eltham Central Park, that we represent, had been able to secure a commitment from both Nillumbik Council and State Government toward the near-term future achievement of our vision for the re-development of the Eltham Central Pavilion/s.

I’m pleased to now advise that with committed total funding of $3.3million now in place, the project will officially start later this year with a projected completion date of October 31, 2019.

Draft building plans have been prepared and these will be available around the clubrooms for members to view as well as available through club websites in the coming week or so. These plans have been progressively developed through ongoing consultation between Eltham Club Representatives, Councilors and Council Officers. Whilst not finalized they are certainly more than “Concept Plans” now. Upon the formal appointment of the Project Architect around March 1 this year, the plans will be developed to full detail.

Key milestones have been broadly outlined. They are ambitious but importantly they provide the high level guidance for the project. Nillumbik Council will manage the project. Through the Working Group established with Council, our clubs can be assured that we will be closely engaged in the project as it progresses through late 2018 and through 2019.

The role of The Eltham Club, represented as it is by Club Office Holders, (The President and Secretary from each of the Cricket Club, Senior and Junior Football Clubs) is to ensure the best possible outcome from this re-development is realized for all members of our clubs; playing and non-playing.

The project will proceed in 2 stages:

  • Stage 1 due to commence on September 1, 2018 will see the demolition of what we currently know as the “Away Team Rooms”. To be replaced by 4 newly constructed change rooms for both home and away teams, with associated facilities including toilets, showers, gymnasium, trainers’ room, umpires room and storage space. It’s envisaged that the new facility will be completed by April 30 2019.
  • Stage 2 will commence on May 1, 2019 and will be the expansion and refurbishment of the current Social Rooms. Including; a new canteen, new toilets, as well as meeting and storage spaces. Target date for completion is October 31 2019.

If the project runs to its timeline, we would have our new facilities available and opened around November 30 2019.

There will inevitably be some inconvenience to our summer and cricket sporting seasons as the project work starts and proceeds. Eltham Club is very much aware that our cricket and football clubs need to function through their seasons and conduct social and general business through this period. We are already working closely with Council and will continue to do so in consultation with the clubs to mitigate issues through the duration of this significant project.

All members can look forward to the near-term realization of this project. Upon its completion, Eltham will have a modern facility to the benefit of all members and through which I’m sure our co-tenant clubs can flourish into the future.

Yours Faithfully,

Peter Lamont

Chairman

Eltham Club