Grace St Project: 'We need to get it done'
The New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited is the latest to confirm financial support of its support of the Grace St Project.
A quest to get a new multi-purpose facility built in South Invercargill has just been provided a $450k boost.
The Invercargill Community Connections Charitable Trust (IC2) officially launched The Grace Street Project last year after securing ownership of the former Grace St Chapel building.
The project will include renovating, rebuilding, and modernising the existing building to create a multi-purpose facility.
It has been costed at over $4m, with New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited the latest to announce its support with $450,000 set aside for the project as part of its $2 million Community Development Fund.
The Fund was launched in April as part of a commitment made after Murihiku Rūnaka and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, NZAS, and Rio Tinto signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2022.
The Community Development Fund is administered jointly by Rio Tinto, NZAS, and Murihiku Rūnaka representatives.
The $450,000 support of the Grace St Project is conditional until its funding target reaches a 75% milestone.
Grace St Project chair Janette Malcolm said they were currently at 63% of their fundraising target.
The Trust has raised $2.836m to date and still has $1.664m to go.
“We’ve done pretty well to raise $2.8m [to date]. We need to get it done,” Malcolm said, indicating the demand for such a facility continues to grow.
It’s been identified that South Invercargill has a shortage of community venues. The plan is to develop seven spaces that will cater for learning opportunities, large-scale meetings, workshops, exercise classes, exhibitions, internationally streamed gaming stations, offices, and co-working spaces; plus market and events needing indoor shelter.
The building will also include a hosted community lounge enabling the community to build on their sense of belonging and establish new connections.
Malcolm said there was no time frame in place to pull in the $1.6m still needed to cover the total cost. However, she pointed out that once they hit the fundraising there would still be plenty of work ahead before getting the facility open to the community.
“You’ve got probably six to eight months of detailed design work with the working drawings, and your building consent and that sort of thing.
“There is a fair bit of time there, and then you’ve got to build it, that’s 12 months. So that’s the urgent need to get the money now so we can get on with those stages.”
Malcolm was grateful for the support of New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited through its Community Development Fund.
On top of the much needed $450k the funding was also an endorsement for the Grace St Project as it searchers for other funding opportunities.
The new Community Development Fund has been hotly contested.
“For them to have selected Grace St as a flagship project is pretty special. It’s a huge endorsement,” Malcolm said.
The public can check out more about the Grace St Project at www.thegracestreetproject.nz
The $450k funding for the Grace St Project is part of a total of $1.15m in grants announced in the first tranche of funding of the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters’ Community Development Fund.
Te Tapu o Tāne will also receive $450,000 receive funding to support the planting of 20 hectares of native plants around 50 hectares of new ponding at Waituna.
The Te Wai Parera Trust along with Te Rūnanga o Awarua and Te Whakamana te Waituna Partners have worked together to ensure that the wellbeing of the people, the land, the waters, the ecosystems, and lifeforce of the Waituna, ki uta ki tai, is improved and maintained.
Reconnection to the Waituna lagoon and the ability to practice kaitiakitanga through mahinga kai is a great outcome for Ngāi Tahu. The planting of indigenous trees and plants helps with habitat reforestation which offsets carbon and supports positive climate change initiatives.
Through the retirement from traditional farming the Pikiraurahi property is now able to support a new hydrological regime for the lagoon that is based on ecological health and cultural wellbeing for the lagoon.
Te Rūnanga o Awarua chairperson Dean Whaanga was very thankful for the support of NZAS for the environmental restoration and cultural reconnection project.
Te Tapu o Tāne Ltd chief executive Jana Davis said: “We want to see the Pikiraurahi with a healthy ecosystem so there are habitats for native game bird, wading birds and fish species, and wetlands which in turn provide excellent tuna [eel] habitat and provide abundant mahinga kai gathering opportunities for local whānau.”
There was also a series of funding grants allocated through the Community Development Fund for “Community Activator Projects”.
Southland Warm Homes Trust – Southland Warm Homes Project ($50,000)
Community Foundations of New Zealand – Southland Foundation ($50,000)
YMCA Charitable Trust – The Y Southland - Redevelopment and facility upgrades ($50,000)
Te Rūnaka o Awarua – Cultural Activator - ($50,000)
Southland Business Chamber – Southland Innovation Project - ($50,000).
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters chief executive Chris Blenkiron said: “This first round of funding is a part of our plan to build on the contribution we’ve made to Southland over the past 50 years and one I hope we can continue to build on beyond 2024.
“I’ve been utterly inspired by all the applications we received, and I want to acknowledge Ngāi Tahu and Murihiku Rūnaka, whose mātauranga Māori and local knowledge were key to the Fund’s formation and the initial projects we will be funding,” he said.
Te Rūnaka o Awarua representative, Jacqui Caine, said: “Since the MOU was signed in 2022, Te Rūnaka o Awarua has been leading the partnership on behalf of Murihiku Rūnaka and has been actively engaging with NZAS on remediation, cultural considerations, and future intentions.
“There was a wide variety of applications for the Community Development Fund, evidencing the strong entrepreneurial and community spirit within Murihiku. We look forward to the contribution of the recipients will make to a vibrant Murihiku,” she said.
The Community Development Fund is available through to the end of 2024. In the event a long-term future for the smelter can be secured, this will be extended.