From $251m to $524m: How Christchurch sport centre Parakiore’s cost doubled

Saturday, 11 July 2026

Christchurch’s Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre has finished with an estimated final cost of about $524 million, more than double the indicative project cost listed when the facility was first agreed.

The metro sports facility was listed in the 2013 Crown-council cost-sharing agreement at $251.3m, including land.

Figures released to The Press under the Official Information Act show the completed facility cost $524m. This excludes a later $30.42m land transfer, which takes the public value tied up in the project to about $554m.

This is significantly more than the “around” $500m final cost disclosed in May 2025.

The 2013 figure included $206m for design and construction and $45.3m for land. At that stage, $217.3m had been committed by the Crown and the Christchurch City Council, with another $34m still “to be determined”.

Thirteen years later, figures show the completed facility cost $396.8m to construct, $87m for design, professional services, legal and project management costs, and $40m for ground remediation and enabling works. All figures are GST exclusive.

Crown Infrastructure Delivery (CID), the Crown agency responsible for delivering Parakiore, said the $524m figure was an estimated final cost and was within a revised project budget set in 2024, but it did not disclose that budget.

It also declined to provide a separate amount spent to date or amount still to be paid, saying that was not needed because it had given the final cost.

CID has also refused to say how much of the final bill came from variations, delays, cost escalation, acceleration or settlements - the categories that would explain how the project moved so far beyond its original estimate.

In 2013, $217.3m had been committed by the Crown and the city council, with another $34m still to be found.

Treasury papers show the budget was already under pressure by 2015 from delays, added scope, price escalation and more difficult ground conditions than expected.

Cabinet lifted the Crown’s funding cap that year, but the new figure remains hidden in publicly released documents.

By 2017, the project was expected to exceed its budget by $75m under the procurement process then being used. A review later said it had found more than $50m in savings before the project went back to market.

In 2019, CPB Contractors won a $221m construction contract. That sat alongside $80m for specialist equipment, plus money already spent on professional services, land remediation and ground improvement.

The project was hit by a major dispute with CPB Contractors, which lodged claims totalling $439.4m before the matter was resolved. CID has not disclosed the settlement or legal cost breakdown.

The council’s capital contribution barely moved. It was set at $147m in 2013 and later increased to $149.8m after the council requested extra work.

Most of the capital increase sat with the Crown. But Christchurch ratepayers now own the country’s largest indoor sport and aquatic centre, and will carry the cost of running, maintaining and renewing it.

Parakiore, which is projected to bring tens of millions of dollars each year into the city, was handed to the Christchurch City Council on October 31, 2025, before opening to the public on December 17.

Since opening, Parakiore has had some teething problems, including thousands of parking fines for drivers who missed the registration requirement for free two-hour parking, and 33 hydroslide incidents in just over a month, mostly involving cuts.

Parakiore includes a 50m pool, diving pool, leisure pools, hydroslides, nine indoor courts, gym space and high-performance sport facilities.