Colin Maiden Park FAQs

FAQ’s

What is the Colin Maiden Park Hockey Facility?

A two turf community hockey facility based in St Johns, Auckland. The turfs are a long-term project that has now been realised and is a solution to the lack of community hockey turfs in Central Auckland.

Who is constructing the facility?

Aukland Hockey’s turf partners Polytan, using subcontractors including Auckland Civil for earthworks.

Who owns the facility?

Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust (AHFT), with a long term peppercorn (30 year) lease from Auckland Council on the land.

How is the facility funded?

Via external funding from key community funding partners including Auckland Council, Foundation North, Lottery Community Facility Fund, Grassroots Trust, Four Winds Foundation, Polytan, TTCF and Blue Waters Community Trust.

Who manages the facility once built?

Auckland Hockey will have full management and access rights via a Management Agreement with Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust. Auckland Hockey will manage all competition allocations, club and school bookings as is the current setup with Lloyd Elsmore Park Stadium.

How long will it take to build?

Phase 1 (earthworks and turf construction) began in January 2025 and is expected to be completed by the end of February 2026. Phase 2 of the project is floodlights and irrigation, which are reliant on securing circa $1million – 1.5million funding for these phases.

What type of turfs will the turfs be at the facility and will they be irrigated?  

Polytan’s Poligras World Cup 2026 Carbon Zero turfs. These are the next generation of the Paris 2024 turfs installed at Lloyd Elsmore Park. There is future proofing with underground pipe-work in place to allow for future irrigation of the turfs. This is likely to be Phase 2 of the project but is funding dependent. There is circa $500k needed to allow for irrigation of the turfs.

Who will be able to use the facility?

Similar to Lloyd Elsmore Park and other community turfs across Auckland, the turfs will be available for external bookings from a wide range of community groups including hockey clubs, schools, Hockey New Zealand, Trident’s franchise and any other relevant turf user. Auckland Hockey will manage all of these bookings in line with community turf hire rates.

What clubs are able to use Colin Maiden Park for training? 

As with Lloyd Elsmore Park, local clubs and schools will be able to book Colin Maiden Park turfs for their own trainings and programmes subject to availability.

What club teams are going to classify Colin Maiden Park as their “home” turf?

Auckland University Hockey Club will be based at Colin Maiden Park, alongside the opportunity for other local clubs and schools to utilise the facility as a home venue for training and matches. Auckland Hockey will prioritise use of the Colin Maiden Park turfs for club and school competition fixtures, representative programmes and community hockey delivery before the use of any external hockey turfs in Central Auckland.

What changing room and toilet facilities will be available?

The changing room and toilet facilities are not part of the current phases of construction. The inclusion of these facilities would be Phase 3 or 4 of the project. We are working with other sports based at Colin Maiden Park to provide access to exisiting facilities within the park before hockey specific facilities can be funded and built. This is a multi-stage project with current costs of over $10 million for turfs, floodlights and irrigation alone.

Will there be club rooms for use by hockey players?

An MOU between University Hockey and University Rugby is in place, with the intent to provide the hockey community with access to the exisiting University Rugby clubrooms which neighbours the hockey turfs. The MOU does need refreshing and Auckland Hockey are in discussions with University Rugby about the long-term use for hockey participants.

There are also ongoing discussion and planning with Auckland Council and other community sports for the long-term facility needs of the wider Colin Maiden Park sports precinct, including hockey. Any club room space is likely to require a multi-sport approach with shared community access. This may be via an exisiting facility or future development of a new facility.

Will there be parking?

Yes, there is a dedicated hockey car park with 32 car parks at the turfs, as well as road side parking and other parking available throughout the Colin Maiden Park precinct.

Will there be a scoreboard and dugouts?

Yes, eventually. Scoreboards and dugouts are planned for the facility but are a significant cost. These will likely be phases 4 or 5 of the project.

Are all levels of hockey intended to be played at Colin Maiden Park?

Yes all levels of hockey are intended to be played on these world class turfs. Auckland Hockey will issue public guidelines in consultation with Hockey NZ on what level of hockey can be played on which surfaces. Considerations such as irrigation whilst we work through the various phases of construction may limit the higher levels of community hockey being played on the Colin Maiden Park turfs until irrigation has been installed.

What is the purpose of Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust, and why were they needed to be formed?

The Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust was established to provide an independent governance and ownership structure for Auckland Hockey owned facilities. The Trust was established during the Colin Maiden Park pre-construction period, with the support of Auckland Council. The Trust hold the lease agreement, landowner approval, resource consent, building consent and funding agreements with Auckland Council.

The Trust provides independence and protection for Auckland Hockey’s cash assets, as well as commercial benefits including capital project funding efficiencies. The Trust also provides the vehicle to have facility experts focused solely on the governance of Hockey facilities in Auckland. It also allows for financial investment and long-term savings away from Auckland Hockey operating income and budgets which will be required for future capital projects including turf renewals and any other turf development projects. This is a similar setup with independent Facilities Trusts already long established at other major Hockey Associations such as Canterbury, North Harbour and Wellington.

What is the relationship between Auckland Hockey Association and Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust?

Auckland Hockey and Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust have a relationship that has been in place since the the Colin Maiden Park concept was first incubated. The Facilities Trust first drafted their legal constitution in 2019 and the Trust was formally established with five founding Trustees in 2024/2025 immediately prior to construction at Colin Maiden Park beginning.

Auckland Hockey have been managing the day to day operations required to get to the point of construction for Colin Maiden Park, with the intent originally to hand over ownership of the facility to the Trust upon completion. However, Auckland Council required the ownership of the facility, alongside lease, resource consent, building consent and funding agreements in the name of the Trust prior to construction with the Trust being the eventual owners and custodians of the new facility.

The terms of access to the new turfs, alongside functions of the partnership are set out in a Management Agreement between the Trust and Association.

Who are the trustees of Auckland Hockey Facilities Trust?

Dave Wigmore (Chair)

Grant Chester

Dion Gosling

Paresh Patel

Pete Sansom

Thank you to the following Major Partners for their generous support

Thank you to our Project Supporters