Bonnie Jansen gets an inside look at the state-of-the-art eight-story facility. Video / Cameron Pitney
University of Auckland aims to host the All Blacks at its new Hiwa sport and recreation centre.
The $320 million facility offers Olympic-standard equipment, indoor and outdoor spaces, and an aquatic centre.
The complex supports high-performance athletes and students, partnering with High Performance Sport NZ for research.
University of Auckland wants to host the All Blacks at its new state-of-the-art sport and recreation centre.
Hiwa, the eight-storey facility based in central Auckland, is poised to become the destination for top international sports teams seeking world-class training.
Offering Olympic-standard gym equipment, cutting-edge technology, indoor and outdoor training spaces, running tracks, an aquatic centre and recovery areas – it ticks almost every box across social and high-performance sports.
University of Auckland’s associate director of campus life for sport and rec, Sean Smith, told the Herald it has had “a couple of requests from the Aussie teams and I would love the All Blacks to reach out to us – we’d prefer to host them if we could”.
“The Hiwa facility and broader campus are an ideal high-performance base for teams when in Auckland, with strength and conditioning studios, aquatics, sports halls, meeting rooms, physiotherapy, catering, sport and exercise science, engineering and medical and health science faculty support and even accommodation available – out of semester – right in the heart of central Auckland.”
Smith said the Waratahs Women’s Rugby team has inquired about booking Hiwa when in Auckland – likely for a Super Rugby Aupiki cross-over match with the Australian competition.
The design of the University of Auckland's Hiwa was inspired by the growing demands of its students. Photo / Supplied
The centre’s name, Hiwa, means “vigorous, active, robust and sound”, reflecting the university’s aspirations for growth and wellbeing. It was gifted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.
The $320 million complex took more than a decade to become reality. The 26,000sq m facility covers a space equivalent to roughly 3.7 rugby pitches or 100 standard tennis courts. Its design was inspired by the growing demands of its university students.
“We had an original rec centre on the site that was built in the late 70s,” Smith said. “When it was built there were about 10,000 students and we’ve swelled to over 40,000.
“So there was a huge demand to offer more space, more activity, more diversity of what was available.
“We’re really proud with what we’ve achieved and the students are loving it. It’s on point with what our students today are after.”
Smith travelled to universities across the globe drawing inspiration from design and best practices.
Hiwa's aquatic centre caters to students and high-performance athletes. Photo / Supplied
The building’s exterior was developed by Warren and Mahoney Architects, while the interior was designed by MJMA out of Toronto, Canada.
“There are a few bits [MJMA have done] that have been very fortunate for us in that space... A lot of innovative thinking, a lot of non-New Zealand ways of doing things.
“The Canadians are more advanced in a lot of their accessibility, and the building is extremely barrier-free. All of our students can come and get involved in this space, and that’s been a huge learning for us.
“There was a lot of very robust debate, just challenging each other on this thinking coming from slightly different backgrounds. Having a slightly broader perspective has been really, really, really beneficial.”
Smith said the biggest challenge was executing his vision on a constrained city site on Princes and Symonds Sts – but he knew it would be game-changing if they could pull it off.
“We could have picked up a lot of the components of this and built them on the fringes or way off campus [but] we had a driver to make sure we had wellbeing and recreation smack in the middle of campus, so this sector 300 is the absolute heart.
“The hardest bit was fitting everything in and while it was a tough challenge, what it’s done is it’s created this unique facility.
“It’s meant we’ve stacked up over eight floors, and we’ve packed as much into this space available as possible.”
A multi-purpose rooftop turf is one of the features of Hiwa. Photo / Supplied
The complex has a combined indoor and outdoor 500m running track with a view of the Tāmaki-Makaurau skyline. There are also diving springboards, a multi-purpose rooftop turf, a rock climbing wall, dance studios with ballet bars, fitness classes, basketball and futsal courts, a spa and sauna, three squash courts, table tennis, boxing and spin class studios and an Olympic weightlifting area.
One of its most innovative features is its indoor arena, which has a seating capacity for up to 1500 spectators. The arena boasts a glass floor equipped with LED lights that can illuminate and transform to accommodate various sport-specific courts, including netball, basketball, and badminton.
The building was funded primarily through the student services levy, which covers non-academic services on campus. Additionally, students continue to pay membership fees, and the building generates revenue by hosting various events, teams and hopefully soon, international tournaments.
A key focus of the university will involve maintaining a strong partnership with High Performance Sport NZ (HPSNZ) and all national sporting organisations.
“This isn’t just for improving pathways and support for our 250 student high-performance athletes, but also to support all of New Zealand’s high-performance athletes and teams.
“We have many of New Zealand’s leading researchers and specialists on campus who can offer support to high-performance sports.
“Our team of exercise scientists and engineers is partnering in research and innovation with High-Performance Sport NZ to optimise athlete performance in exercise physiology and sports technology. The collaboration has already supported significant successes in cycling at the Paris Olympic Games and continues to drive the innovation pipeline for the upcoming LA Games.”
The new complex is a modern version of the AUT Millennium where many of New Zealand’s top Olympians such as Zoe Hobbs, Lewis Clareburt and David Liti train.
“Our goal isn’t to look to compete with any support systems already in place at the current HPSNZ bases, such as at Millennium,” Smith said.
“We, instead, are further developing an additional high-performance innovation hub at New Zealand’s leading university, at our city-centre campus, which will support broader and specialised services, expanding and strengthening those currently offered.”
Beyond the high-performance capabilities, Smith hopes this space can help keep students active, preventing young adults from dropping out of sport after high school.
For current students, the membership is $4 a week – $200 per year. It’s $20 per week for staff and $26 for alumni. For everyone else, it’s $29 a week, which is about the same as a Les Mills membership.
“Students that are involved in sport and recreation, it’s been proven time and time again through research, become more employable, you’re unemployed for a shorter time, you get a higher salary. We’re focusing on getting the price down, so more students get involved.
“With this facility, the goal is to have about 20,000 of the university community supported, and they won’t all be members of the facility, they may just be watching a game or enjoying the spaces and, that’s about 50% of our population, and so that’s the driver for that price point.”
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Feverpodcast, and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.
