The Rotorua Trust is providing $100,000 towards the development of new facilities to enable the Parksyde Community Centre to cater to the growing elderly population.
Launched as a Rotorua Trust Millennium Project in 2000, Parksyde caters for Rotorua residents 55 years and over, with income being derived from commercial use of its facilities, particularly meeting rooms.
The new development, which will start on 1 April, will see the conversion of a big, largely unused storage area into another meeting room.
In the past three years, the number of people using the facilities has doubled. The ageing population in the Rotorua/Bay of Plenty region is expected to increase by a third, so this use will only increase.
“The aged population is increasing, so the facilities available for them are going to have to expand,” Parksyde manager Dave Monty says.
Parksyde is specifically designed as a community entertainment centre for the elderly. Run without a bar or gaming facilities, Parksydeoperates as an event centre that includes a dining room, library and activities’ room as well as the meeting room.
“We have unused space in Parksyde and it makes sense for us to use all our current footprint.”
The meeting rooms form an important part of Parksyde’s income stream, so the expanded meeting room space will provide more options for commercial work. The project is designed by Sigma Consultants and is due tobe completed on 1 July.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT:
Dave Monty
Manager, Parksyde
07 348 9892
parksyde@clear.net.nz