Authorities meet with stakeholders to discuss Christchurch's stadium concepts

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Authorities have met with stakeholders to discuss concepts for the Christchurch stadium.

Sporting codes have met with authorities about concepts for the new Christchurch stadium.

An investment case for the long awaited multi-use stadium is due to go before the Government mid-year, after being fast tracked last April. The work is being led by Christchurch City Council staff.

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge says attendees were surprised at how much progress had been made and were constructive in their feedback.

Preliminary work, released in a council report last September, estimated build costs ranging from $384 million to $561m, with a preferred option sitting at $470m. There is currently $473m of funding earmarked for the build.

Council staff, Government officials and consultants held a series of stakeholder engagement workshops this week, seeking input from those organisations that would use the stadium.

The proposed site for the stadium, which is bounded by Madras, Barbadoes, Hereford and Tuam streets.

Geotechnical Engineers check the ground conditions on the stadium site in November.

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

* Regional rate suggested to cover Christchurch stadium

* Christchurch stadium the big winner from council's plans**

Those attending were shown some possible concepts for the stadium. Detailed plans and costings have not yet been developed as details such as how the arena would sit on the site, how it would be used, and budget constraints were still being finalised.

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said attendees were surprised at the progress made and were constructive in their feedback.

'Not everybody agrees with everything that was presented, but most of the groups that I've been involved in, when you talk to people afterwards, they thought exceptional progress had been made.'

Mansbridge said those working on the investment case presented a summary of the work they had done and how they got to where they were.

He said the workshop covered stadium orientation, type of turf, access, connection with the local community, and noise abatement strategies.

A north-south and an east-west orientation were considered, with the north-south generally accepted as the better choice because it would provide more light to the turf and better access.

Mansbridge said it seemed like some of the more substantive decisions had been made, such as the turf would not be retractable and it would have a see through roof similar to that of Forsyth Barr in Dunedin.

He said they were looking at 25,000 seat stadium with some capacity for expansion.

'Ideally in a test match you'd have 50 or 60 [thousand], but if you're doing one of those a year, then 25 [thousand] is probably fairly good. In terms of a concert, it would take that and more.'

Mansbridge said the consultants involved in the project were able to answer detailed questions from the group and had been involved in stadium builds around the world.

If something along the lines of what was discussed was what the city ended up doing, he thought they should get on and get it done quickly.

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

The council has committed $253m to the stadium over several years in its long-term plan.

The Government has earmarked $220m out of the $300m Christchurch Regeneration Acceleration Facility for the stadium, subject to investment case approval. It has also spent about $90m buying land.

Ground testing of the site was undertaken late last year, with nothing problematic found on the site.

There are plans to use the site as a 582-space Wilson car park in the short-term.