Ellerslie Racecourse

In 2018 the Auckland Racing Club embarked on a $6 million project to give the Ellerslie racecourse a makeover. As part of this task Ward Demolition were brought onboard to demolish 70% of the old stables to make way for the new ones.

History of the 112 year old building

This building wasn’t always a stables, first built in 1906, labeled the ‘tote house’, it originally housed 34 betting station windows and a manual totalisator, a counter machine displaying the total shillings bet on each horse as well as the grand total for the public to view.

In 1913 the building had to be significantly altered to include the worlds first automatic totalisator machine (pictured below). The machine was designed by Sir George Julius, the founder of Australian company "Automatic Totalisators Limited.” Although the machine was not without it’s problems it formed the basis for a remarkable line of development that continued for 50 years. For more on how it worked see HERE.

A new improved building was constructed post-war. The final machine had two rows of 15 horse totals rather than 3 rows of 10. This building remained until Ward demolition deconstructed it in 2018, though the totalisator machine itself had since been removed.

the historic nature of this job meant for a very gentle demolition

Resourse Recovery

Once the Totalisator housing was safely removed the building was carefully striped back one piece at a time. The roof was constructed of beautiful native timber that was all salvaged by hand. The large open beams from the South end of the building were then craned to the ground carefully to be recycled. All of this timber has gone on to be reused in new buildings across New Zealand.

The New and Improved Ellerslie Racecourse

The Totalisator Housing was removed intact, restored and became the main feature piece in the new stables.

The North end of the building was left standing, but stripped back to form the base of a restored venue for large events. The new building preserved the original betting windows and open-beamed ceiling. To see more of the new venue ‘tote on Ascot’ see HERE.