Christchurch stadium concept plans revealed

Saturday, 23 February 2019

A concept model for the Canterbury Stadium, being used to test what is the best fit for the city, is based on a bowl-shaped, 25,000 seat arena.

Sports groups, businesses and neighbours are having their say on concept plans for Christchurch's new stadium. Now you can take a look.

A 25,000-seater stadium concept with a plastic roof similar to Dunedin's Forsyth Barr is being consulted on as officials prepare a detailed case for Government funding.

A shared path will run through the grounds to connect to Cashel St.

The model is a bowl-like stadium to sit at the southern end of the massive stadium site, which is bounded by Madras, Barbadoes, Hereford and Tuam streets.

It would seat 25,000 with room to add another 5000 temporary seats at the northern end – an area which could also be used as a stage during big events.

Christchurch City Council (CCC) general manager citizens and community Mary Richardson said people talked about the stadium's 'incredible benefits', the investment case was working to quantify them.

Examples of how the concept would be able to be set up to host events like tennis or boxing.

* 'Fast-tracked' business case for the Christchurch stadium won't go to Government until mid-2019

* Cost of Christchurch stadium options range from $384m to $561m**

A concept of how the stadium might sit on the site.

The model is based on a clear ETFE plastic roof (similar to that of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr stadium) over the majority of the building, but a solid roof over the southern end to about the 22 metre line of the rugby field.

Designers have calculated that making this section of the roof solid will not impact on sunlight reaching the turf – essential for it to grow.

A solid roof limits the leakage of noise from the stadium. Smaller concerts for 11,000 to 16,000 people could be held under this roof, separated from the rest of the stadium by an acoustic curtain.

Noise leaking from the venue cannot be entirely avoided, though it would only be excessive at larger events using the whole stadium.

CONCEPT ONLY

Officials are quick to stress the model being discussed with sports groups, businesses, entertainment bodies and local residents is a concept, not a design. Nothing has been decided yet.

When you talk through the mock-up with those behind it, it becomes clear that careful thought has gone into every aspect: how turf would grow, how concerts of different sizes could be set up in several configurations, how sports like tennis or even boxing could be hosted, how lots of people could get in and out quickly and comfortably, how sound would be managed.

Alistair Pearson, the council's major facilities capital delivery manager, said the ETFE roof was 'like a drum skin' in that it allowed noises out – but that was no different from any other stadium.

'We are going to get noise that will come out of this building, there's no doubt about that … but what we've got to really reference is how much noise, and how often is that noise breakout, [and] for how long.'

How many of those really large gigs the stadium is likely to host is part of the modelling EY will do.

These are examples of the level of detail that is being delved into by those working on the project. Pick any other aspect of the stadium – seating, access, and dozens of other things the average person would not think to think of – and you get a similar depth of background work.

The detail means the build cost will be calculated very accurately.

Project director Mark Noonan, a former quantity surveyor, said computer-aided design meant models could be used to work out details like how many kilograms of steel would be needed.

He said the big four costs were the structure, turf, roof and seats, and accurate estimates for each of those could be found if there was enough information to guide them.

So that's the concept, but nothing in it is finalised – because now it has to be tested, to see how it would hold up in the real world.

FEEDBACK

In the last two weeks, those developing the stadium's investment case met with community groups to get their feedback on the concept work to date. It was the first chance for interested groups to get a real gauge on official thinking on the project.

About 60 people, representing sporting codes, business developers, entertainment organisers, and local residents, gave their feedback over several sessions.

They came away largely impressed with the amount of work that had been done on the concept and the depth of thinking behind it.

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said not everyone agreed with everything that was presented, but from talking to people afterwards, most groups thought 'exceptional progress had been made'.

'I said to them … from what we can see here this is brilliant. Can you open the doors tomorrow please?'

THE INVESTMENT CASE

The concept model forms part of the work being done by officials on the 'investment case' for the central city anchor project. This is due to go to the Government for sign off by June.

If accepted, the Crown will approve the $220 million it has earmarked for the project, and detailed design work can get underway.

The Christchurch City Council has also committed $253m to the stadium over several years in its long-term plan.

Progress on the stadium has been a bit like a duck on the water – on the surface it appears to be gliding along slowly, but under the surface there is a lot going on.

Work on the investment case is being lead by the council, through a range of Government staff from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ōtākaro, Treasury and Land Information NZ are involved.

It would examine the risks and possible disadvantages of going forward with the stadium.

Council citizens and community general manger Mary Richardson said: 'People talk about the incredible benefits, well actually can we quantify them?'

She said it was trying to get some substance around what the need is, because the city could not afford the Rolls Royce options.

A range of consultants including Populous (an international architecture and design company who have designed over 1300 stadiums in 34 countries), Aurecon (who are doing the structural, traffic, fire and environmental engineering work) and Marshall Day Acoustics are involved in the project.

EY will test the concept model against five criteria; strategic (the compelling reason to build it), economic (whether the model is value for money), commercial (how it would be built), financial (what it would cost and earn, based on the events its likely to attract) and management.

Over the next 10 weeks, the team at EY will be trying to work out the nitty-gritty details.

EY have been working on this since the last week of January, starting by reviewing previous work done and understanding the detail in the technical reports.

Brent Gray, who is leading the business case for EY, said the team had started with the strategic and economic cases. 'A lot of that is sitting in workshops and understanding investment objectives.'

They were also starting to work out what an events schedule might look like, together with council events management company VBase.

It was not just the concept being tested, but also some of the assumptions made to date, such as what would happen if a stadium without a roof was built.

If the investment case is approved by June, the plan is to start construction in late 2020. The hope is the stadium will be finished by the end of 2023.