Report into Invercargill's Rugby Park grandstand says results could be catastrophic

Friday, 29 November 2019

The seating section of Invercargill's Rugby Park grandstand which is now off limits because of safety concerns.The corporate areas above the seating can still be used.

Almost half of Invercargill's Rugby Park grandstand is now off-limits with an engineering firm warning the results could be catastrophic if the bleachers are used.

In May, this year, civil and structural engineering firm, Kensington Consulting, told the Invercargill City Council it was not prepared to certify the lower west end of the grandstand after the Southland Stags' 2019 season, which finished in October.

The seating in the west end of the Rugby Park grandstand is now off limits because of safety concerns around the concrete bleachers.

But problems with the bleachers was first presented to the council back in 2016. It appears a report was given to the council but has languished with no immediate action taken to fix the bleachers.

Of the 3400 seats, 1567 cannot be used because of safety concerns.

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The June 2016 warning came via a report from Faris Consulting Ltd, which says the west end bleachers at Rugby Park need to be demolished and reconstructed.

Roy Faris, a registered building surveyor, told the council the bleachers had simply passed their used by date.

A full bleacher reconstruction was recommended and it was thought the bleachers could be constructed off-site over five months, while the on-site work was expected to take a month.

The Kensington Consulting report that went to council staff in May is hard-hitting about the standard of the bleachers.

'Failure of the supporting ends of the bleachers would most likely be sudden and catastrophic,' the report says.

The civil and structural engineering firm suggests major propping work is needed on the affected bleachers.

The condition of the concrete bleachers has deteriorated noticeably and the affected bleachers should be demolished, the report says.

'Any deterioration in the condition of the concrete at the ends will markedly affect its ability to support its own self-weight and imposed crowd loads.'

The repair cost to bring the bleachers to 100 percent of the National Building Standard has been estimated at $387,000.

Rugby Park is officially owned by the Invercargill City Charitable Trust, which is a council-controlled organisation.

The council took over running Rugby Park in 2015 but it did not officially take on ownership until 2016.

Stuff asked Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt if he knew why the council has not acted on the warning it was given in 2016 and if he would support fixing the bleachers.

He has not responded to questions.

However, council communication services spokesperson Hannah McLeod said it was unclear whether council staff put the 2016 Faris report to councillors.

McLeod did confirm that in July 2016 Roy Faris gave a presentation in the public forum section of a finance and policy committee meeting.

But there was no council resolution made following his presentation for any remedial work to begin.

Since 2016, the Invercargill City Charitable Trust has received $300,000 from the council for long-term maintenance of Rugby Park.

To date, it has spent just $22,128.60.

Any decisions around the funding of work on the grandstand, and the wider Rugby Park facility, would need to be made by councillors, McLeod said.

A report is expected to be put to the full council early next year.

If the required work is not carried out the 2020 Stags Mitre 10 Cup home games can still go ahead next season but the affected seats will be cordoned off.

That will leave about 1900 available seats in the grandstand.

Rugby Southland general manager Brian Hopley believed during this year's Mitre 10 Cup, at some of the larger games, there were about 2000 people spread out in the grandstand.

The Highlanders game did fill most of the Rugby Park grandstand for its Super Rugby game against the Warratahs in June.

However, the Highlanders will not be returning to Invercargill in 2020 after deciding it was not economically viable to commit to a game in the city every year.

Hopley felt it was important for Invercargill to have the outdoor stadium fully operational, not just for rugby but for other events at the venue.

The former Rugby Southland offices are under the area of the grandstand where the bleachers have been recommended to be demolished and reconstructed.

In April, council chief executive Clare Hadley advised Hopley that they would need to move their operation upstairs to the corporate boxes after toxic mould was found in the offices.

There were water leaks in the area where the office wall backed on to the bleachers.

Rugby Southland has since moved its administration operations to Surrey Park.

It is understood the work suggested to fix the bleachers would also help to stop the leaks and inturn allow Rugby Southland to move back into its offices.

In June, the city council then closed the adjacent Rugby Southland Supporters Club clubrooms because of similar toxic mould concerns.

During the local body elections, the future of Rugby Park was put to mayoral candidates.

Shadbolt said he supported investing in Rugby Park to ensure Invercargill had an outdoor stadium.

Darren Ludlow said council took on ownership of Rugby Park in 2016 because the city valued the outdoor stadium and nothing had changed.

However, he said what needed to be figured out was what needed to be done and what we can it afford to do.

Rebecca Amundsen felt it was time to look at what type of stadium Invercargill actually needs now, suggesting there was no point spending money on something and then finding it has 1000 more seats than needed.