More than 20 community groups and individuals are banding together to try and save the Ashburton Sports Hall for community use.

The building was owned and managed by Ashburton Centennial Sports Hall Society, but in March the group wound up and gifted it to Ashburton District Council.

Council has put it up for tender, which close September 11.

Community group chair Lucas Cawte said the project had a growing network of people keen to be involved.

Its unique layout as a community asset was drawing more people into the project seeking to put a tender to district council keep it in community hands, he said.

‘‘The more people that hear about us, the more people they are coming out of the woodwork and saying, ‘well hey, our venue is in jeopardy, what can you do for us.’’

Cawte, who has no affiliation to a sports club, said with the proper management and scheduling, such a venue could be ‘‘extremely well-utilised’’.

‘‘A lot of community groups’ future will be uncertain should this go.

‘‘These guys need a home. Without this the future of (many of) these clubs is in jeopardy.’’

The sports hall on Tancred St was built in 1954 as a centennial project for Ashburton.

The building was useable in its current state, but the group was assessing its future work.

‘‘In any sort of building of age, there’s a right now list, there’s a future list, there’s a wish list, so we are busy weighing up all the maintenance requirements and looking to the future on how we could facilitate those, if, and when, they come up.’’

‘‘It’s not just an office ... but there is clearly a sports hall and a big open area which is one of the most desirable traits for our interested parties.”

Among them were people with different skill sets and networks with a lot of reach into all parts of the community.

Among them, members of Rotary who held its annual Bookarama event there each year.

David Mead, the club’s annual Bookarama co-ordinator, said Rotary was interested in keeping the sports hall, as it had been home to the club’s annual fundraiser for about 25 years.

But members could not go it alone.

“I’d hate to think it would be end of Bookarama. There isn’t really another venue around,’’ he said.

Cawte said if anyone else was still interested in getting on board, they should do it sooner, rather than later.

Group member David Henson was collating all the details of interested parties and can be contacted via email at davidhenson@xtra.co.nz

Earlier this year, council chief executive Hamish Riach said councillors considered a report about the building and decided at their May meeting to put it on the open market.

“We’ve already had interest from developers and community groups wanting to buy it, so council will run a tender process.

‘‘There was a good discussion at the meeting about whether the building should be sold for its commercial value or sold cheaply to a community group, who would then pay to bring it up to scratch.

“In the end, council agreed to look at all tenders and evaluate them on their merit.”

At the end of the tender process, a report will go before councillors and they will decide on the successful bid.

Council is managing existing bookings until the sports hall has been sold.