Coast’s First All-Weather Sports Hub

Transforming housing and community

DEVELOPER Third.i has welcomed strong support from Australia’s leading sporting organisations for its proposed all-weather football and AFL fields at Charmhaven.

The all-weather fields are key components of its $1.6B master-planned community that will also deliver new homes, jobs, a K-12 school and protected ecology lands.

If the development is approved, it will be region’s first-ever sporting complex – addressing the chronic shortage of year-round sporting facilities on the Central Coast.

National and local sporting organisations have endorsed the Charmhaven proposal, given the urgent need for all-weather sporting facilities, with wet weather forcing the closure of Council grounds across the Central Coast, leaving thousands of young players unable to play or train for months at a time.

The Interim CEO of Football Australia (FA) Heather Garriock, said: “New synthetic sporting fields and infrastructure will provide real benefits to the local community and ensure our players can continue playing the sport they love, regardless of weather conditions. Football Australia is eager to lend its support through the planning process to deliver this unique sporting complex for football players on the NSW Central Coast.”

Samual Thomson Venue & Government Partnerships Manager – AFL NSW/ACT said in 2024 there were 2,100 AFL participants across Central Coast Council. 

“When we use the population growth projections and our current participation rates, if the penetration rates of participation remained the same as it was in 2024, by 2031 we will need access to an additional 3 ovals to meet demand.”

“The Charmhaven Community Development presents an opportunity to create an additional AFL space to directly support the participation needs in the Central Coast region.”

Alex Burgin, CEO of Central Coast Football, said any proposal that invests in all-weather sporting infrastructure is not just welcome, but essential for the region’s fuure.

“Central Coast Football and our 16,500 playing members are keen to support initiatives like the Charmhaven proposal, which will ensure football is accessible year-round for everyone,” he said.

The Charmhaven Project is currently the largest housing development planned for the Central Coast. If approved, it will help ease the housing crisis by delivering over 2,000 homes (200 dedicated as affordable housing for essential workers), a low-fee school catering for 1,500 students from K-12 and a new business park creating 650 new jobs. 

Contingent on planning approvals, the first new homes could be delivered in 36 months.

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