Multi-purpose community centre approved for Leeston

A new multi-purpose community centre is coming for Ellesmere. After taking on feedback from the community through the Long-Term Plan 2024-34, the Council has committed $16.1 million to a multi-purpose community centre with library services, which will be called Whata Rau, a name gifted by Te Taumutu Rūnanga.

Whata Rau Community Reference Group

A reference advisory group will be formed, chaired by Councillor Grant Miller, which will lead the design, layout, and functionality of the multi-purpose facility. The group will work with Council staff to consider the Council’s overall approach including future projects planned for the area, budgets and council policies and processes as well as operational considerations.

Expression of Interest to join the Whata rau Reference Group is now open. If you are keen to be involved in the project and believe you have useful perspectives that could be taken on board, please consider putting your name forward.

The Journey So Far

Whata Rau has been in the works for several years.

2021: Council committed to building a combined community centre, library and service centre facility on Leeston Park for $8.9 million.

It was hoped construction would start in 2024/25, after further discussions with the community about details of the building and wider Leeston Park development (Waihora Whata Rau).

As the project progressed, increased construction costs and inflation pushed up the project costs. Land remediation issues were also discovered that needed to be fixed.

2024: Given the increased costs, Council went back to the Waikirikiri Selwyn community in early 2024 to ask how they would like the project to progress. Move ahead as planned? Do more? Do less? Don’t build Whata Rau?

Council received 943 submissions about Whata Rau, with most submitters wanting the building to go ahead, in some way. Following consultation, Council agreed to build Whata Rau with a new project construction budget of $16.1 million. Operational and maintenance costs have also been budgeted.

We also agreed to further develop the multi-use aspect of the building, and to develop a community reference group to help guide the project.

Waihora Whata Rau a landscape of abundance

Waihora Whata Rau is the name given to the overall Leeston township project being undertaken, including various facilities, landscape and reserves.

Whata Rau is the name gifted for Ellesmere’s new multi-purpose community facility, which will house our community activities. The name recognises the many platforms and storehouses of knowledge, the resources to be found throughout the district, and the significant natural resources of our landscape.

Kōrero Ahurea - Read about the Cultural Narrative for Leeston Township Masterplan

Understanding Waihora Whata Rau

Te Waihora is the original name for Lake Ellesmere. It speaks to the area around the lake where the new facility will be built and the communities it will serve.

Whata means an elevated stage for storing food – a storage place, or drying racks. It also means to elevate, support, and bring into prominence.

Rau means to put into, gather into, place into, and to catch with a net. It also means hundred.

The Stories Of Our Past And Present

Title: Scene on the Horotueka or Cam, Kaiapoi Pah, Canterbury, 1855
Credit: Charles Haubroe watercolour, Canterbury Museum
Ref: 1951.15.5

Waihora Whata Rau is all about manaaki – to be able to host and provide for our guests and communities.

The vast expanse of Kā Pākihi Whakatekateka o Waitaha the Canterbury Plains is home to an abundance of food and resource, bountiful forests, wetlands and waterways. Māori migrated to the region based on reports of this abundance – the cabbage trees, weka, eels and flatfish. They built many whata throughout the area, which could be seen at a distance on our flat landscape and were used as markers to help guide travellers from one location to the next. The whata signalled pā and the likelihood of food and manaaki (supporting, taking care of and providing hospitality).

Today, this same landscape is still renowned for its food production. Although the food and resources may be different and the methods of storage have somewhat changed, the concepts are still the same. The land and waterways still provide, the land is productive, and there are signs of abundance.

Waihora Whata Rau reinforces the role of the whata as the place where food and resources were gathered and stored, and speaks to the tangible and intangible resources of our landscape. It recognises the practice, tradition and mātauraka (Māori knowledge) of mahika kai (food gathering). Waihora Whata Rau also references the storehouses, in its many forms, as the landscape adapted to the settlers, their food production and storage needs.

Contact Us

If you would like any further information about Whata Rau or would like us to talk to your group about this project please email whatarau@selwyn.govt.nz