ACT government's school hall approach to indoor sports venue crisis deemed a 'Band-Aid solution', as promises made

ACT Badminton president Olaf Schuermann utilises a number of school halls around Canberra but was not consulted before Throsby, Margaret Hendry or Evelyn Scott schools were built, and it led to many problems.

The problems include low ceilings, overhanging pipes and air conditioning vents, under utilised court space, or line markings being left out entirely.

Schuermann says the use of school halls to address the indoor venue crisis is a "bandaid solution" as sports are struggling to accommodate growing demand, even with five future school halls promised, and needed their own facilities.

He said the new approach to consult with sports and build standard specification school halls moving forward was better later than never, but it was only a temporary fix.

"The government has a policy of not building indoor sports centres for public use, and want to rely on school sports halls. Well, that's great, but why don't they consult with sports when they build these things," he said.

"[Throsby] could have at least had eight courts, it's the same size as Amaroo. In the documents they didn't have any badminton lines at all, so I had to ring and ask them.

"I went into [Margaret Hendry] too, thinking we could play badminton in there. The business manager looked at me and said, 'Yeah, you're not the first one that says we can't use this for our sports'. So you've got a hall there that again, if it was built properly, could have been hired for a lot of sports, but many of them are like me and can't because it's completely unsuitable.

"It's a Band-Aid solution. We've put the Band-Aid on, and it seems to work for the meantime but given the growth ... we're just basically just keeping our heads above the water."

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Throsby School's hall does not utilise the entire space and has had line marking issues to make it uneconomical for sports, resulting in it having available timeslots despite the desperation of sports around the territory to secure space.

At Margaret Hendry School's hall it's a similar issue of not being fit-for-purpose. The ceilings are too low, the lighting is wrong, pipes and air conditioning vents are overhanging and only certain sports can utilise the space.

And at Evelyn Scott School, it's the opposite. Two sports have monopolised the hall since day one, limiting several other ACT sports options to existing infrastructure, or the two halls at Throsby and Margaret Hendry. It was purpose-built as the home of roller derby - after the sport's former space at the old CIT Woden site shutdown in 2018 - and on occasion opens up to basketball, but line markings for other sports were left out entirely.

In September the government pointed to those three new facilities as its action on the indoor venue shortage, with five more halls earmarked to be finished in 2024 and 2025.

An ACT government spokesperson confirmed they would be building school halls to standard specifications moving forward to ensure they were utilised fully.

They did not specify what sports were consulted before the three schools were built, and said the primary use and function of school halls was for education purposes, not after-hours users.

"The ACT government's sport and recreation team consults with a range of indoors sports around infrastructure specification," they said.

"[They] can generally cater for a range of sports including basketball, netball, futsal, volleyball and badminton. Some sites have been designed specifically for a sport, such as roller derby at Evelyn Scott School.

"Most ACT public school gymnasiums are fully booked, including Evelyn Scott School and Margaret Hendry School. The ACT government is working with sports groups on a solution which will accommodate their needs ... and ensure the [Throsby] gymnasium is being fully utilised outside of school hours."

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