Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds rumoured to become a mass Covid-19 vaccination centre

The single-dose Janssen Covid vaccine has been approved for those aged 18 and older in New Zealand.

Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds could become a large vaccination centre as the country nears the Group 4 vaccination roll-out

Newsroom understands the Showgrounds is being considered as a location for a large vaccination centre and could still operate in liquidation.

Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds – one of the country’s biggest venues – announced it had gone into liquidation last month.

A report on ASB Showgrounds recently found the Covid-19 pandemic, its impact on the event industry and growing rental costs sent the centre over the edge and into liquidation.

As the country nears its Group 4 vaccination rollout Matt Hannant, programme lead at Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre, told Newsroom health officials are planning for large-scale vaccination events in Auckland.

ASB Bank is the main creditor, owed $2.99 million. A number of other secured creditor claims are still to be investigated.

“We have explored a number of sites, including the ASB Showground and others across Auckland,” Hannant told Newsroom.

The first liquidator’s report by Paul Vlasic of Rodgers Reidy also showed preferential creditors, including the Inland Revenue, are owed about $1.5m.

The report noted that because of the size of events held at the showgrounds, the board was significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and was only able to operate at alert level 1.

Ongoing changes to national and Auckland alert levels meant the venue suffered “significant losses” last year and into early 2021, as Auckland entered another lockdown.

The alert level changes also resulted in feelings of uncertainty within the events industry, the showgrounds’ main source of income, the report said.

The board leases land owned by the Cornwall Park Trust Board (CPTB). The report found the lease agreement “did not provide for any lease concession” because of the pandemic and alert level changes.

The board had been in arbitration with the Cornwall Park Trust, which the Herald understands wanted to put up its annual rent from $750,000 to $2.3 million. The board has spent around $725,000 on legal and arbitration fees challenging the rent hike.

The showgrounds has been hosting events for more than 160 years.

As of March this year, the venue had lost four major events, including the Home Show and the Royal Easter Show.

Last year, 14 major events were cancelled because of the pandemic, plus 11 smaller shows and concerts.

Altogether 500,000 Kiwis have now received both jabs and are fully vaccinated against Covid and a total of 1.2 million doses have been administered.