TEVIOT Park, Boonah’s newest outdoor arena, had its first official event last week with a Commencement of Construction Ceremony.
The multi-million-dollar Federal funded Olympic sized equestrian and events facility played host to community members, project managers and political heads, all coming together to witness turning of the first sod.
“I’d also like to remind people of the extraordinary increases in costs of materials like concrete and steel when it comes to managing a project of this magnitude, being able to remain on budget is a credit to you and your team,” project committee leader Phil Gutzke said to those in attendance.
“By [Boonah Show] time we expect to see the grandeur of the structure bolted together.
“Then the project team will establish the grandstand seating, which are concrete tiers, and they will go around the curve right down to the end comprising three levels.
“Approximately 1500 cubic metres of concrete will be poured.
“We’ve engaged engineers and have begun drafting detailed design for electrical, water, fire protection and all the things that go with it.
“The beauty of all this is that once the team have built it, we will have an undercover work area enabling us to push on through the subsequent months.”
He said ‘massive’ toilet blocks would be installed ‘way in excess of what was required’.
“We will have another canteen bar in time, we have kept our old bar but our plan is to give it a facelift and reclad it, redesign it and make it a canteen and bar facility,” he said.
“We will be able to seat 2,850 people and the trick to that is using our current grandstands, procuring more and putting them on the upper deck because that’s where our capacity and volume of spectators comes from.
“There will also be ramps and access points all around to create flow and manage the movement of people.”
He said the stadium was a culmination of three years of planning and fundraising, then commissioning a feasibility study with engineering
plans and design that had secured approval for the overall masterplan of the showgrounds.
At all times the emphasis had been on using local expertise, he said.
Many community key players attended the event, including Arthur De Main of De Main Electrical and Dean and Tanya Zurvas from GWT Earthmoving.
Federal Member for Wright Scott Buchholz and Member for Scenic Rim Jon Krause were also in attendance, with Mr Buchholz kicking off the ceremony by ‘turning the sod’.                  Also speaking at the ceremony was Teviot Park project manager Rick Stanfield who said while there would be plenty of parking on the grounds, a memorandum of understanding had been entered into with Boonah High School regarding parking on its oval.
“We went to [Dan Marrone] and said ‘look, we need to revisit the parking on the oval and [Dan’s] immediate response was ‘I don’t see a problem at all’;” Mr Stanfield said.
“From that point it was all positive and a memorandum of understanding was signed.
“For this facility and the grounds overall, having the ability to park a large number of cars will be gold for us.
“We will in turn be able to contribute to the school’s grounds development so it’s a win in every direction.”
Mr Marrone was appointed principal at Boonah High School earlier this year.
He said his philosophy was a simple one, he believed high schools and big campuses should be the centre of a community.
“High schools should be resources and facilities everyone can benefit from,” he said.                                                                                                                                                        “Many of those involved in building this stadium went to Boonah High and in 10, 20 or even 30 years time the current cohort will be here and continuing to build the region and community.”
The new Teviot Park event precinct will open early 2024.