‘Under promise, over deliver’: Council works to keep spending under control

Thursday, 3 April 2025

Drawings of how a redeveloped Theatre Royal may look once completed.

Two major infrastructure projects are back under the microscope as the Timaru council looks to keep its spending under control.

The redevelopment of the stadium at Aorangi Park and the upgrade of the Theatre Royal are the biggest vertical infrastructure projects on the Timaru District Council’s books this year, and are due to start as the council grapples to bring costs under control.

Councillor Stu Piddington asked for an update on the projects during Tuesday’s council meeting and was told both were at a “delicate” stage.

The council’s group manager environmental services, Paul Cooper, said the council was working to deliver both on budget, and an unexpected challenge at Aorangi Park had them looking at ways to cut costs.

An artist's impression of how the redeveloped Aorangi Stadium might look.

“We’re at a delicate point in terms of the stadium. There’s some information that’s come to light that suggests that there’s a little bit more fill in that site than we had anticipated.”

Cooper said the council was now looking at how it could “value engineer” to deliver the project within budget.

“Those conversations are ongoing and that is why we haven’t settled on the design at the concept level yet, we’re still wrestling with that.”

He said the were “trying to recover some costs” by moving things around and one idea floated at a meeting with a user group recently was making changes to the design of a link.

Timaru District Council group manager environmental services, Paul Cooper, told councillors the stadium and theatre projects were at delicate stages during Tuesday’s meeting.

He said an option was to change the design of a link in the building from being two-storyed to being two-storeyed at the front and single at the back.

“We’re still on track with the stadium … it’s now about getting that final design that we can deliver on budget.”

Cooper said both projects were “on track for the indicative timeline” that council had presented previously, with the exception that they “might need an extra 6 to 8 weeks on the stadium for the deal with the foundations”.

Timaru District Council chief executive Nigel Trainor said the stadium should be the best it could be as it was one of the district’s best projects in terms of being able to help attract people to the area.

“That work that wasn’t envisaged, that will probably take 6 to 8 weeks.”

On Wednesday, a council spokesperson explained that issue had been identified following geotech work with the fill under the netball courts not suitable for supporting a building.

Council chief executive Nigel Trainor said the stadium user group had looked at the plan and were “pretty pleased” with it.

“There’s always some tweaks you can make … I think the stadium needs to be the best we can really get it because it is probably, right at the moment, one of the best economic development projects we’ve got in terms of attracting events here.”

Cooper said the council was also at a delicate stage with the Theatre Royal project.

Councillor Owen Jackson, next to councillor Sally Parker at Tuesday’s meeting, asked whether they could go to the community with an update on the Theatre Royal project.

“We are in a negotiation with the architects around keeping it within budget … and that’s delicately balanced at the moment, I believe.”

He said the project manager, Paul Haggarth, was “in the thick of that at the moment”.

“We’ve said we’ve got no intention of housing circus elephants, they’re right off the menu so it’s getting it back to a design that is going to fit within brief and deliver it within price.”

“I can’t really say too much more than that really at this stage.”

Trainor backed up Cooper, saying he also believed the Theatre Royal project was at a “quite delicate” stage.

Timaru District Council group manager corporate and communications, Stephen Doran, at Tuesday’s meeting.

“There will be a paper coming regarding stuff that is outside the budget, such as the Chinese Gardens and the old Criterion [buildings] in terms of what exactly we’d do with them.”

Councillor Owen Jackson asked whether the council could go to the community with an update on the project.

“I think it’s too early, far too early,” Trainor replied, to which Jackson said: “People are asking.”

Trainor then provided more information on the status of the project.

“We’ve got to get the contract signed with the architects, which isn’t done yet. And, we’re also about to appoint the other consultants to get them on board. And then, get some pictures to deliver,” he said.

In February, the council confirmed it had selected NB Architects, partnering with DLA Architects, for the job and was “in negotiation with them to finalise their appointment”.

At a council meeting that month, Trainor said the council was working on the contract, and once that was sorted they could get started on earthworks. That was eight weeks ago.

The final word on the matter during Tuesday’s meeting came from the council’s group manager corporate and communications, Stephen Doran, who said they were working on the principle of “under promise and over deliver, this time around”.

“Because we’ve been selling this as a wondrous project for a number of years, so it would be nice to not promise anything until we’re at fairly concrete points so we’re not disappointing anyone.”