New centre puts bounce in basketball’s step
Community and state level basketball in Western Australia will be the major beneficiaries of the new Western Australian Basketball Centre.
25 January 2010
Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron officially opened the new multi-purpose facility on Sunday 24 January 2010 and said it would serve WA basketball well into this century and provide an enormous benefit to sport in WA.
“This complex has been designed to cater for community, state and national level basketball competition – the eight courts, including the two show courts with seating for up to 2,000 spectators, will provide an enormous boost to the game,” Mr Waldron said.
“Just as importantly, it has been designed as a multi-purpose sports complex and, while basketball 
will be its primary use, sports such as netball, volleyball, badminton and other indoor sports will be played here.”
The Minister acknowledged the influence of the major supporters of basketball in WA over the years and said the new facility stood as testament to their efforts.
Mr Waldron said the new facility would encourage participation in sport and was also environmentally friendly in its design.
“In this era of environmental awareness, building a sporting facility is not just a matter of constructing the most basic building for the purpose of playing sport," he said.
"Much more needs to be considered and in this case, all the boxes have been ticked."
Features of the centre include:
• eight courts, including a basketball show court with 1,100 permanent seats and 900 retractable seats, and a six-court sports hall with multi-sport line markings
• function centre with bar and kitchen facilities
• office space for Basketball WA, the Perth Wildcats and the Perry Lakes Hawks
• kiosk and community basketball club rooms
• low energy and passive lighting solutions incorporated into the stadium
• flow controllers and timers fitted to taps to achieve five-star performance for basins and sinks, and three-star performance for the shower heads. Waterless urinals have also been installed
• the stadium incorporates passive ventilation, reducing its carbon footprint
Completion of the WA Basketball Centre, and the already operational WA Athletics Stadium, is the second stage of a three-pronged sports development in the sporting precinct. The development replaces out-of-date facilities at Perry Lakes and will also include a rugby facility on adjacent land.
The combined construction cost of the WA Athletics Stadium, WA Basketball Centre and supporting infrastructure was $73.4 million.
Department of Sport and Recreation Director General Ron Alexander said the basketball centre opening marked a significant milestone for the department.
“The project has required a high level of community consultation and teamwork, not just among those within the department, but the wide range of stakeholders who have been involved,” Mr Alexander said.
“It has been a challenging project but I believe the finished product we have here is testimony to the hard work and diligence of all involved. On that basis, I’m very pleased – and proud – of the efforts of the DSR team involved, who have done a remarkable job representing the interests of the government over several years to bring this, and the athletics stadium, to fruition.”
On behalf of DSR, Mr Alexander also acknowledged and thanked representatives of Basketball WA, Wheelchair Sports WA, Town of Cambridge, the state government’s Building Management and Works, Department of Planning, University of Western Australia and VenuesWest for their contributions.
Like the WA Athletics Stadium, the WA Basketball Centre will be managed by VenuesWest (formerly the Western Australian Sports Centre Trust) and Chairman Graham Partridge said the operator looked forward to working with Basketball WA to make the centre one of the best facilities in the country.
“This will be the finest facility in Australia,” Mr Partridge said. “The 6 court sports hall alone is 5000 square metres.
“In addition to this we’ll be able to ensure many other sports such as netball and volleyball get a chance to practice and play in this extraordinary venue.
“We hope to provide access to more than 100,000 users in the first year.”
Mr Waldron said he hoped that many of these users would be school aged children.
“I hope we will see many school groups using these facilities because our sporting structure in this state – as well as the social and physical health of the community – is so dependent on getting young people to play sport,” the Minister said.
“Having sporting facilities such as this one certainly goes a long way towards providing more opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to keep active. This makes individuals healthier and happier and our communities stronger and safer places to live.”
Basketball legends set the court alight
There were some huffs and puffs but they were still able to bring the house down, they were the past and future giants of WA basketball who took to the court for a Legends Basketball Spectacular to mark the opening of the new WA Basketball Centre.
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