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Onehunga Community Centre

83 Church Street, Onehunga

View the 360 degree virtual tour of Onehunga Community Centre.

Enquiries

Phone:	(09) 634 9253
Fax:	(09) 634 9258
Postal address:	P O Box 13755, Onehunga, Auckland
Email:	info@onehungacentre.org.nz
Website:	www.onehungacentre.org.nz/
Office hours:	Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm
Christmas/New Year	Closed from 3pm Friday 19 December 2008. Re-open on Monday 12 January 2009.
See also Events and activity listings

Community centres are individually managed by either a centre manager or co-ordinator. If you would like to find out more information about this centre and the activities, or would like to run a class or hold a meeting, please contact the centre directly.

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History

The new community centre

Auckland City invested $5.4 million in the construction of this facility. It is envisaged that it will become the hub of the community, where local events can happen in and around a town square at the corner of Church Street and Upper Municipal Place.

The community centre has four cleverly designed, flexible meeting rooms that can suit either large or small groups, plus three activity rooms with sprung wooden floors and an internal courtyard.

The library opened for business in December 2002 and provides more space for the library's growing collection.

There is also a Citizens Advice Bureau, kitchen and shared offices for other community groups to use, and a cafe within the complex which will be the only commercial / retail facility in the new building.

A large car park is located at the rear, on Lower Municipal Place, and more parking is available on Church Street.

Process

In early 2001, Auckland City held a competition to select the design for the new community centre and library for Onehunga. Four design companies were each asked to submit two plans for the proposed complex - one for a new building and the other for reuse of the existing building.

Of the eight proposals, the 'new build' design by Andrews Scott Cotton Architects was judged to be the one which most closely matched the needs of the community, as identified in consultation with potential user groups and set out in the design brief. The new building option was chosen following recommendations from an evaluation panel, that included

• council employees
• two local councillors
• the community house co-ordinator and
• representatives from the building and architectural industries.

Professor John Hunt of Auckland Unversity's School of Architecture who chaired the Waitemata Waterfront Development design competition panel, also chaired the panel for this project.

Ten criteria were used to compare each of the eight designs submitted and overall the new building design met these best. Cost was just one of the criteria but not rated as important as achieving a functional library and community centre, which is flexible and has quality interior spaces. The design chosen was not the cheapest but was more cost-effective than reusing the former building.