After more than 60 years of stairs and narrow corridors, Launceston’s Elphin Sports Centre is getting a $4.7 million makeover aimed at opening it up to people with disability.
New concept designs show a replacement lift, a new accessible ramp, two new accessible toilets and showers and new men’s and women’s change rooms.
The upgrade also includes changes to the foyer and car park and upgrades to electrical, fire and mechanical services.
The 2026-27 state budget provided an extra $2.1 million for the project, bringing the state government’s total investment to $4.7 million.
Sport Minister Nick Duigan said work would start later this year and was expected to be finished by the middle of 2027.
“Elphin Sports Centre has served as an important community centre in the state’s north for more than 60 years and these upgrades will help take the facility to the next level,” Duigan said.
He said he had been told around 5,000 northern Tasmanians used the centre in an average week, for sports including basketball, pickleball and table tennis.
Duigan said the building’s older stairs and narrow corridors made it hard to get around.
Elphin Sports Centre president Peter Dunphy said the centre had been talking with the government for many years about facilities for people with disability and he described the plans as “tremendous”.
Centre manager Ben Tyeson said improving access between the buildings was a major part of the upgrade.
“At the moment it is really hard for people in wheelchairs to go from one building to the other here,” he said.
He said spectators also struggled to move between parts of the venue. He put this down to the centre’s age, saying accessibility had not been a requirement when it was built.
“It’ll be good to see the facilities brought up to a more modern standard,” he said.
Tyeson said he expected the upgrade to help increase participation among people with disability.
The courts were not part of the work at this stage, he said. He did not expect construction to affect sport heavily, though there could be some disruption to access.
Disability Services Minister Jo Palmer said that improving access to sporting facilities was an important way to make the state more inclusive.
“Projects like this help remove barriers so more locals and visitors with disability can enjoy sport and physical activity,” she said.
