Aorangi Stadium build voted through to next stage

Thursday, 8 May 2025

The netball courts with Aorangi Stadium in the background on Saturday morning.

Timaru District councillors have voted to push the Aorangi Stadium upgrade and expansion to the next stage.

However, some questioned the actual budget for the Timaru project after the addition of more than $500,000 from legacy funding.

At a workshop last week, councillors were told the budget for the retention of the existing stadium, and a link from the building to a new eight-court facility, was within the $24.2 million allocated for it.

At Tuesday’s full council meeting, the budget for the project had stretched to $24,767,337 with the addition of legacy Aoraki Stadium Trust funding.

Councillors Allan Booth, Sally Parker, Owen Jackson, Gavin Oliver, Stu Piddington, Scott Shannon and Peter Burt voted for the project to go to the next stage.

Mayor Nigel Bowen and councillors Michelle Pye and Stacey Scott voted against it.

The redevelopment is one of three major infrastructure projects discussed at the meeting. Councillors voted earlier in the day to go ahead with the next stage of the Theatre Royal and museum builds.

The Timaru District Council’s planned upgrade of Aorangi Stadium includes these designs by Thompson Engineering.

Bowen pointed out the council’s previous resolution was that chief executive Nigel Trainor would be delegated authority to spend up to $24m for the project.

But he said the total budget in the meeting report, written by consultant Paul Haggath of Team Projects Ltd and property projects officer Matt Sisson, was above that with the legacy Aoraki Trust funding included.

“Technically the delegation, if we’re wanting to include the total as is, should be up to that total figure of $24,767,337,” Bowen said.

However, Scott said her understanding was that the money had already been included in the $24.2m.

She asked how the $567,659 that was originally included in the $24.2m budget was no longer there and had been added to the total.

Councillor Stacey Scott at Tuesday’s full council meeting, where she asked how $567,659 originally included in the $24.2m budget for Aoraki Stadium was no longer there.

“I am concerned about that,” she said.

“We have always had $24.2m, and so somewhere in the last week I feel like that’s got muddled because you’re right – this is over [budget].”

Haggath said his understanding was the legacy funding was to be used to upgrade the stadium’s lighting and heating.

Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen at Tuesday’s meeting, where he voted against the project going to the next stage.

He said his direction was that was to be “over and above the $24.2m”, and in order to make things more efficient one contractor would do the work.

Scott said this concerned her as the trust’s money was to be included in the $24.2m or, originally, to be added to fundraising for the project.

“It’s a pain that it’s there and now we’re over budget.”

Haggath suggested the heating not be done but Scott argued it had been included in the figures at the workshop when the project was still within budget.

Group manager environmental services Paul Cooper, left, and consultant Paul Haggath at last week’s Timaru District Council public workshop on the stadium, theatre and museum projects.

Bowen said: “Do we think the legacy Aoraki Trust funding sits within the $24.2m, which means you can’t do the heating, or does it sit outside of that and then it means you can do the heating?

“I think it’s perspective but the reality is it is $567,659 extra.”

Haggath said $1.5m of extra costs had been absorbed because the ground condition “was not as good as I’d hoped” for the impending build.

He said that had been “derisked” and put back “onto the contractor through the design and build contract and the geotechnical investigations that we did”.

Pye said, based on what Haggath had said, “I would suggest we shouldn’t be adding it to the budget, and if we’re going to have a consistent approach with the theatre and the stadium, the budget is the budget.

Timaru District councillors Michelle Pye and Stu Piddington at a meeting earlier this year.

“And yes, that money goes to funding it but it does not increase the budget.”

Piddington said he was comfortable whether or not it was added to the budget, he said.

Pye asked why Better Off Funding and fundraising had not been included in the cost plan and asked if the funding was “locked and loaded”.

Haggath said it was.

Piddington moved that the money from the trust be included above the delegated budget.

However, Pye said she would not support that.

“We can’t have a different approach to the theatre and the stadium. And so to me, the budget is the budget.”

During the earlier discussion about the theatre and museum projects, Scott had asked for the resolution to include that the council’s chief executive would be delegated authority to spend up to $24m for the first phase of the work.

However, this was disallowed, prompting her and Piddington to vote against taking those projects to the next stage.