The Clyde and Districts Lions Club (CDLC) has been digging in to make the site of the defunct data centre at Clyde Dam into a cultivated garden.

Contact Energy head of hydro generation Boyd Brinsdon said the idea grew as he was passing by the data centre site on his way to work everyday, looking at the concrete plinths left there. 

“I thought they could become garden beds if they had sides on them,” he said.

Boyd talked to others at Contact Energy and they approached the Lions Club about possible uses of the site, with sustainability top-of-mind.

“Virtually nothing got shipped away [to landfill] . . . the concrete is reused, and the containers and power boxes are stored, and they might be repurposed and [perhaps] could be used elsewhere.”

Boyd said $7000 of funds from Clyde Dam Tours, operated by Kim Johnstone, had gone towards the garden project.

When Contact Energy granted company access to the dam an arrangement was made a percentage of tour proceeds would go back into the community. 

“CDLC are just awesome for a volunteer group, and to have the support of CDT is great. We [Contact Energy], make electricity, we don't grow cabbages,” Boyd said.

Clyde and Districts Lions Club president Bill Batt said club members had spent countless hours on the work to date and he loved the challenge to turn the land into something useful. 

When he checked out the site he “immediately started measuring up for a garden”.

Bill said he had two women to help him with the garden and plants side of things, the club vice president Dennise Simms and member Ngaire Adams. 

“It's been a hell of a job so far to get going…and we’ve got five plots.

“There’s been a lot of work to do, a lot of support from local businesses and the community but there’s still more to do, and there’s been a lot of cost too.”

Bill said he hoped in a year's time the results would be evident and the area would be visually improved from the plantings of flowers and garden greenery. 

Pictured planting onions is (from left) Contact Energy hydro sustainability specialist Neil Gillespie, supported by Contact Energy planning and site support manager Clayton Andrew and Clyde and Districts Lions Club member James Whyte. PHOTO: Dennise Simms

The Lions Club benefited from donations of timber, a shed from the old railway house, a glass house, along with free use of a digger, special deals on soils, compost mix and plants.

The group had a small scale opening on October 20 with an afternoon tea, ribbon cutting ceremony and some strawberry and brassica plants going into the plots Bill and others have built.

Clyde and Districts Lions Club immediate past president Anne Connelly planting a brassica on October 20. PHOTO: Dennise Simms

“Next up we will get nets to protect [seedlings] from rabbits, and more plants in,” Bill said.

The longer term plans for the garden and its bounty are being worked on by the club.

Boyd said the new substation on the garden site was complete, and ready to go when lines company Aurora Energy needed it. 

“It will enhance the security of supply for the [Clyde] township… as the town grows… the lights will stay on.”

Lake Parime, the company behind the data processing centre construction near Clyde, went into liquidation in January 2023.

The UK-based startup was building a 10-megawatt data processing centre downstream from the Clyde dam, and it was due to be operational in March 2023.

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