Christchurch's $683m Te Kaha stadium starts to take shape

Sunday, 15 January 2023

Christchurch's new stadium Te Kaha is starting to take shape, with new drone footage from the city council showing its enormous footprint.

The outline of Christchurch’s $683 million Te Kaha stadium is starting to take shape as construction continues on the mammoth project.

Drone footage from January 12 of the three-block site shows a huge steel frame in the southwest corner and a 300-tonne crawler crane helping to lift the steel into place.

The project will have its first major concrete pour later this month.

The steel visible here is part of the stadium foundations and underground supports.

Lead contractor Besix Watpac will oversee about 40 large concrete pours between the end of January and mid-August.

David Kennedy, chief executive of the Christchurch City Council company governing Te Kaha, says about 40 concrete pours over the coming months each will happen at about 2am.

* Not upgrading stadium streets will cost ratepayers extra $500,000 each year

* Christchurch mayor says keeping rate rise to promised 4% will be 'very challenging'

* New pool and library latest Christchurch City Council project to go over budget

These concrete pours help build up the stadium’s “substructure”, which is the foundations and underground supports.

David Kennedy, chief executive of the Christchurch City Council company governing the project, said the substructure was a “crucial element”. It would allow the land to hold the huge stadium and withstand any future earthquakes, he said.

This drone photo shows the construction work happening in the southwestern corner of the three-block construction site.

The stadium will have a covered roof and will be used for sport and concerts. The $683m will mostly be funded by ratepayers, and the project is due to be completed in April 2026.

Kennedy said upcoming concrete pours would likely take place from about 2am on each occasion, to minimise both heat stress on staff and the risk of traffic congestion.

Working at such time would also keep the concrete cooler and ensure a consistent concrete supply, he said.

There would also be measures to minimise noise, Kennedy said, with contractors setting the pours up during the day and putting their equipment in the middle of the site to be as far away from neighbours as possible.

The stadium will have a covered roof and will be used for sport and concerts. It is a $683m project mostly funded by ratepayers. It is due to be completed in April 2026.

Noise barriers would also be used “where practical”, he said, and subcontractors would be given additional training.

Over the next six months, construction of Te Kaha will focus on the substructure and work to improve the ground.

Some construction stages will overlap as work is completed from south to north.

Construction of the stadium’s superstructure that will hold the seats is expected to begin before the end of March.

Building began in July last year, just after the council voted to increase the project budget by $150m.

Overall, work remains on time and on budget.

In December, Kennedy told city councillors: “Everything is going according to plan.”

According to the Infrastructure Commission, Te Kaha is expensive by international standards.

“On a per-seat basis, it is twice as expensive as the average rugby stadium,” the commission said in a December report that looked at the cost of infrastructure.

“It is also three times as costly as Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium, another 30,000-seat stadium with a roof that was built only a decade prior.”

Still, some stadiums are more expensive.

In New York, a stadium with about 60,000 seats has been slated for the Buffalo Bills NFL team – and is expected to cost US$1.4 billion ($2.1 billion), according to The New York Times.

The Times also reports that New York City Football Club will build and pay for a 25,000-seat stadium that will cost US$780m ($1.2b).