Te Newhanga Kāpiti Community Centre

We closed Te Newhanga Kāpiti Community Centre in 2021 because of ongoing issues from weather-tightness. After further building assessments, which showed failure of the cladding and decay of framing timbers, Council agreed in May 2024 that the building should be demolished.

We know the important role community centres play in creating social connections, providing safe and welcoming spaces, and accommodating important community services. We’re continuing to look at how we can deliver a community space to meet these needs.

Meanwhile Space

We've worked with community groups to create a Meanwhile Space on the lawn nearby the community centre. 

This Meanwhile Space is a welcoming, vibrant, and interactive community hub – a flexible space where people can sit and relax or hold community events.

A timeline describing the history of the now-closed community centre set in a colourful container is the centrepiece of the new space. Other welcoming attractions include a ping pong table (BYO bats and balls or borrow them from the library), a sensory footpath to tickle your toes, weta motels and a racetrack for children to push toys around.

Come along and check it out!

A shed containing items for small events can be booked by emailing [email protected]

Saveboard hoarding

We installed hoarding made from sustainable ‘Saveboard’. Saveboard is made from recycled packaging materials like milk and juice cartons, and one board saves more than 500 cartons going to landfill. Saveboard is circular, too – when it’s done its job here, it’ll be upcycled again into new Saveboard.

This is all part of our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and demonstrate sustainable practices.

Needs assessment

In late 2023, Council engaged a specialist research company to carry out a needs assessment to help understand the unmet social needs in our community. This study was designed to make sure any future community centre is right for our community, and can change with changing needs.

The needs assessment involved a series of conversations and interviews with former users of the community centre and other interested people.

Council received the final report in May 2024. It found people who used the Te Newhanga and other people interested held Te Newhanga Kāpiti Community Centre in high regard and support it being redeveloped in the same place.

The report identified the following social needs in our community:

• the lack of community space on the Kāpiti Coast that operates as a ‘managed’ community centre where members of the community can spend time
• social and community organisations find it hard to rent affordable and consistent spaces
• community and social service organisations aren’t as visible in the community and networking opportunities including the ability to share resources and ideas
• a redeveloped community centre might not address the needs identified by Kāpiti Coast youth, who suggested more active recreational.

Needs assessment report [PDF 1.85 MB]

Background to closure

Testing showed, that despite remedial works, moisture ingress had spread to several areas of the community centre and resulted in significant levels of mould and decay throughout the building.

Results of a structural investigation of the building carried out in late 2020 concluded that the structurally degraded timber has reduced the building’s overall bracing strength by 15 to 20 percent compared to its original bracing. The building was achieving 58 to 60 percent of the current new building requirement, which means it was not dangerous or earthquake prone as defined by the Building Act.

Air quality testing carried out on 22 February 2021 showed increased spore counts of Penicillium/Aspergillus in both the Totara and Pohutukawa rooms. The amount of Stachybotrys (also known as toxic black mould) and Chaetomium (another mould that can cause allergic reactions and respiratory infections in immune-compromised people) increased in the Totara Room.

In 2024 experts looked at the building, and determined it’s no longer safe to use. The building has suffered significant weathertightness issues, with the external wall cladding failing, which has led to decay of the external wall framing and toxic moulds growing. The roof has also failed in places. These issues combined make the building unusable.

History 

The Kāpiti Community Centre was located over the railway lines in Paraparaumu for many years. In the 1990s a Community Trust was established to raise funds for a new centre, to be located on Ngahina Street. The Deputy Mayor of the time, Murray Jensen, was instrumental in this process and in 1996 the building was completed. Later, the building was gifted to Council and run by an independent community organisation. In 2011, the local hapu, Te Uri o te Ngarara, gifted a tipuna name to the Centre, Te Newhanga. This was significant in acknowledging the connection to local hapu and iwi, while recognising the importance of the centre to community.

In 2018, Council became the kaitiaki of the centre.