The Oasis Sports Club is currently undertaking a $3 million renovation to the sports and entertainment facility in Kendal Hill, Christ Church.
Managing Director of the Oasis Sports Club, Rohan Ford, said that part of the renovation would include expanding the 12 000 square feet rubber surfaced, LED-lit multipurpose court to 20 000 square feet and a 25 foot roof with solar panels from Goldfield Solar.
The playing area will be 125 feet x 140 feet, covered in artificial turf from Edel Grass, a turf supplier from The Netherlands.
Ford explained that the decision to upgrade the facilities was to provide a better experience for the players.
“When we first started, it was just primarily on grass and we played in the afternoons. After the first eight months, we installed lights and a bathroom so we could play at night but the grass was difficult to play on because it died out, so we initially transitioned to a rubberised surface, and now we are transitioning to a covered roof with an artificial turf. This allows for a premium quality football as well as cover in case of rain or even in the daytime with the sun.”
This project was scheduled to start much earlier but the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a standstill.
“The pandemic was a huge setback. This project was actually started in early 2020 and it’s only really revamped earlier this year, so you could say we were setback by two years.
“It also puts a heavy strain on revenue, but it just shows the validity of the project, that the passion hasn’t waned from the consumers or the community, and the confidence shown by the financial institution (Republic Bank) to go forward with the project even after two years of pretty much no activity.”
Most of the suppliers for the renovation project being overseen by engineer Richard Woodroffen, are locally based – Structural Systems for the steelworks, Goldfield Solar for the solar panels, ENedd Construction for the civil works and JMounter Enterprises for all electrical work.
In 2018, the original multipurpose court was built with an adjoining 60-foot container bar and deck space. At that time, Oasis had about 400 players take part. Since then, they had approximately 1 000 players pass through the facility. In terms of active players now though, the number is around 500.
Ford hastens to add that the facility is not only used for football.
“People celebrate birthdays, people do corporate events, they do fun days and other things of that nature. On a day-to-day basis, you’d probably get around between two to five hundred people, but realistically it is much bigger.”
The Oasis Sports Club currently utilises the Briar Hall Pavilion & Resource Centre and Dover Practice Field while renovations are going on. Ford and the rest of the team are hopeful they can move back into their “home” by November. (JC)