Naenae Bowling Centre

A modern-day community triumph has sprung up at Walter Mildenhall Park in NaeNae, in the form of the new Regional Bowls Centre.
This is a state-of-the-art indoor bowling stadium and associated facilities - three outdoor bowling greens, a snooker room, bistro, TAB and gaming room, along with clubs and facilities for darts. The NaeNae Returned and Services Association also has a new home here and refurbished tennis, petanque and badminton facilities are adjoining.
The Naenae Bowling Club had a happy home in Central Lower Hutt until their land was needed for hospital use; they then merged with Park Avenue Bowling Club. Hutt City Council and the local facilities trust then chipped in to create the grand new facility, which opened in 2017. The major improvement is the roof, which enables bowling to take place in any weather and after dark.
Tennent Brown Architects explain its merits: The distinctive feature of this building is the large tensile membrane roof that forms a canopy over the indoor green. An efficient xanadome structure of four steel tube arches allows a height of 11m in the centre of the dome. The clubrooms building is a simple, L-shaped low form that anchors the large fabric canopy. It features a mono-pitched roof and a combination of profiled metal cladding and brick veneer.
Bowling fees are still reasonable at NaeNae but the competition is fierce, with members of this club holding their own locally and nationally.