Matatiki: Hornby Centre
Matatiki: Hornby Centre is a new Hornby library, customer services, and recreation and sport centre planned for the growing south-west community. Construction of the new centre began in November 2021 and is expected to be completed in early 2024. It will incorporate a library, customer service area and aquatic facilities including a multi-purpose lane pool, family spa pool, hydrotherapy pool, and toddlers’ wet play area. It will also have an espresso bar, a creative activities room, and multi-purpose rooms for meeting and quiet study.
Latest News
4 October 2023: Join the team at Matatiki
31 August 2023
Community groups raising funds for a new hydrotherapy pool for the Hornby community have received a $400,000 grant from New Zealand Community Trust.
12 July 2023
A community fundraising campaign to raise $1.4 million for a warm-water hydrotherapy pool has hit the halfway mark and is now ramping up a gear.
The Rotary Club of Hornby and the Greater Hornby Residents’ Association are leading the campaign to raise funds for the hydrotherapy pool at Matatiki Hornby Centre, raising $700,000 so far.
3 May 2023
Christchurch City Council is looking for an operator to lease the new cafe within the Matatiki Hornby Centre.
The café will be located in the reception area of the centre and will include an area for indoor and outdoor customer seating.
Anyone interested in the opportunity to run the café can download the Request for Proposal documents via the Government Electronic Tender Service website. Proposals must be submitted by midday Wednesday 14 June 2023.
23 November 2022
The new Matatiki Hornby Centre currently under construction in the city’s southwest will continue to be delivered to scope in spite of challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues.
16 August 2022
The Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board has voted to accept Ngāi Tūāhuriri’s gifted name of Matatiki for the new community facility in Kyle Park, Hornby.
The new centre will be called Matatiki Hornby Centre, in line with the Council’s naming convention for other similar facilities.
Matatiki: Hornby Centre construction photos
Take a look at the construction of Matatiki: Hornby Centre
New Hornby Centre gifted special name
Ngāi Tūāhuriri has gifted a special name – Matatiki – for the $39.9 million community facility that Christchurch City Council is building in Hornby.
Lynne Te Aika from Matapopore, says the gifted name was chosen because it reflects the unique natural features of Christchurch’s south-west – the area the new facility will serve.
“Much of Christchurch gets its fresh drinking water from the underground aquifers that discharge through the Ōpāwaho-Heathcote and Ōtākaro-Avon Rivers in the Hornby area. Matatiki means spring of water and represents the importance of water as a source of life and wellbeing.
“Traditionally, the river waters were central to the way of life for mana whenua and an area of mahinga kai – an interconnected system which produces food and sustains life,” says Ms Te Aika.
Matapopore developed the cultural narrative and facilitated the gifting of the name from Ngāi Tūāhuriri to the Council.
The Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board has voted to accept Ngāi Tūāhuriri’s gifted name of Matatiki for the new community facility that Christchurch City Council is building on land in Kyle Park, Hornby.
This follows the naming convention of other Council facilities like Te Pou Toetoe: Linwood Pool and Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre.
Council Head of Recreation, Sports and Events Nigel Cox says the name that is being gifted is fitting for the new facility as it will be a source of wellbeing for the people of Ōtautahi-Christchurch.
“We are building this new facility to serve the growing population in the city’s south-west. It is going to be a place for people to come together to exercise, to learn and to play and to connect with others,’’ Mr Cox says.
Construction of the new centre began in November 2021 and is expected to be completed in late 2023. It will incorporate a library, customer service area and aquatic facilities including a multi-purpose lane pool, family spa pool, hydrotherapy pool, and toddlers’ wet play area.
It will also have an espresso bar, a creative activities room, and multi-purpose rooms for meeting and quiet study.
The design of the new facility and the landscaping will incorporate ideas encapsulated in the cultural narrative developed by Matapopore.
Information from
New Hornby Centre gifted special name, Newsline, 11 August 2022
Board accepts gifted name, Newsline, 17 August 2022
