IMPROVEMENTS to Orange showground have reached the first milestone, with construction of a pavilion to be put to tender early next year.
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The 3200 square metre facility was approved at the Orange City Council meeting on Tuesday night and showground community committee chair and councillor Ron Gander said he was ecstatic.
“The campdrafters say it’s one of the best venues in Australia, but there’s no where to feed people under cover,” he said.
Cr Gander said the pavilion would provide the showground with a multi-purpose venue, catering for rollerblading groups and indoor cricket, through to markets and car shows.
Orange Show Society president Peter Naylor said the show’s pavilion displays had nearly grown out of the agricultural pavilion.
“It’s a place to grow and we won’t have to jam things in really tight,” he said.
“With Orange, we have rain so it also means we can open the show in there and people won’t get wet.”
The building will be constructed of corrugated steel, measuring 11 metres at the roof’s highest point.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council staff recommended moving the building an extra 3.4 metres from the northern boundary along Phillip Street to cater for additional plantings in line with the site’s heritage significance.
But after architect Wayne Petrie objected because levelling issues and the relocation of the internal road would add costs to the project, councillors agreed on the original 6.6-metre setback.
Tenders will be sought in the new year, however the building may not be delivered at once - the 80-metre by 40-metre slab will be constructed, with the building itself built in sections as funding becomes available.
Cr Gander said council was waiting on grant applications and considering transferring money from other projects.
“It would be a minimum of 60 metres, but we hope to have the full lot,” he said.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au