No safety issue with seismic score of North Harbour stadium: council agency

Sunday, 6 August 2023

An Auckland Council agency says North Harbour stadium is safe, despite comments from the local rugby union that it has “seismic issues”.

North Harbour Rugby has floated the idea of a smaller stadium at Onewa Domain and publicly said roof and seismic issues were among questions facing the future of the big stadium at Albany.

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, (TAU) the agency which runs the council-owned stadium at Albany said a pre-Covid-19 seismic assessment found it just within a rating scale, considered safe.

The stadium met 34% of the new building code standards for earthquake-prone buildings, a figure below which a public notification and long-term plans for an upgrade would be required.

“We take a risk-averse approach, and if we felt there was a public safety issue at play, we clearly would not have the building in use,” said James Parkinson, the director of stadiums.

Parkinson said the large, arching roof structure over the main grandstand had been maintained, with critical work done, but was a difficult design and would need longer term work.

The future of Auckland’s newest stadium, built in 1997, has unexpectedly come into question after the mayor Wayne Brown surprised everyone by saying it would be demolished in a year.

There are no plans either to demolish North Harbour, or build a smaller alternative, but all the options will be part of a new round of work reviewing the future of the city’s major stadia.

North Harbour Rugby said the idea of a smaller stadium of 6000 to 8000 seats was its response to an approach from TAU exploring its preferences if the Albany stadium was no longer its home.

The operating losses for the Albany stadium were “eye-watering” for TAU, said the rugby union’s chief executive Adrian Donald.

Access to the Albany venue was excellent he said, but with just a single grandstand on one side it was too small for major fixtures, but too big for the 3000-4000 who turn out for provincial rugby.

The stadium last sold out in 2017 when the All Blacks played South Africa.

It has hosted All Black tests, concerts including Cher, and in February was the venue for qualifying rounds of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Donald said sorting out the roof long-term at Albany could cost $8-10m, a figure which TAU said was not one it was aware of.

A steering group led by councillor Shane Henderson is reviving debate over the city’s major stadia, work which began in 2012 but could reach no conclusion.

The difference this time is progress that has been made on trying to agree on a single operator to run the council’s stadia at Albany, Mt Smart and Western Springs, as well as the privately-owned Eden Park which receives financial support from the council