Four and a half years since it was taken over by the COVID-19 surge centre amid the darkest early days of the pandemic, the Garran Oval has finally been returned to the public . Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Eleven-year-old Seras Kondo will use her last few days at Garran Primary School using it.
It has reopened for public use half a year late and days before school children go on holidays. The oval was repurposed to house a COVID-19 surge centre, which became a testing centre, in 2020. Rohan Neale and Ellen Kondo, 7, left, and the COVID surge centre.
Pictures by Gary Ramage, Elesa Kurtz The $23 million surge centre was built in just over a month on Garran Oval as part of the ACT's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It began to be dismantled in September 2023, when the government promised to return the oval in mid-2024 following remediation works. At the time, the government said it would cost $8 million to pull the Garran Surge Centre down.
Fences were taken down on Thursday, the oval opened to public use on Friday and to formal sport on Saturday. Rohan Neale enjoying the newly reopened Garran Oval with Ellen Kondo, 7 and Seras Neale, 11. Picture by Gary Ramage The government said works to remediate the oval beg.
