Portable loos for large events ‘always part of the plan’ at Christchurch’s new stadium

Tuesday, 19 May 2026

City leaders are defending the use of portable toilets and outdoor food trucks at Christchurch’s new stadium, saying the set-up was “always part of the plan” for major concerts – although communication could have been clearer.

Saturday’s Once in a Lifetime concert at the freshly-opened One New Zealand stadium sold out, attracting a crowd of 37,000 people who largely appeared to enjoy the uniquely Kiwi show.

But some general admission standing ticket holders took to social media to express surprise and disappointment, after discovering they weren’t able to access toilets or food vendors in the stadium’s main concourse – instead having their own food trucks and portable toilets set up outside.

Many said they faced lengthy queues at peak times, with one punter telling The Press he ended up missing all of Kaylee Bell’s performance when trying to buy drinks.

“The lines at the bars were 200-plus people long,” he said.

Portable loos always part of the plan, city leaders say

Mayor Phil Mauger told The Press he didn't know the people who were standing on the grass ”had to go to their own food outlet or their own toilet department”, although he was aware 200 extra toilets had been placed outside.

“They’ve always known that to get that many people they'll need to put extra toilets in. And that's what they did, because it's only maybe four times a year, three times a year.”

Mauger said he “would be surprised” if the issue recurred for the upcoming Foo Fighters concert – as they would be using “the cut down version” of the stadium.

They “may well” look at adding more permanent bathrooms sometime in the future too, he said, or there could be other logistical changes.

“This is the very first time that we've had that many people sitting in one place. I'm sure it'll be changed.”

Mauger suggested the area around the stadium being closed to traffic for events may be cut back. “because they [are thinking], ‘oh, we've overcooked it here, we don't need that much.’”

Central ward councillor Jake McLellan said it was not worth constructing more pricey permanent toilet facilities, for just a handful of events each year.

Operationally, bringing in portable toilets “made sense”, he said. Although if standing ticket holders were not aware this was going to happen, perhaps messaging hadn’t been clear enough.

However, “it seems like a communication issue, if people didn’t know what they were buying.”

Councillor Andrei Moore said this had been Christchurch’s first event of this size in years.

Most punters had a good time, and 200 portable toilets for 12,000 extra people seemed like “a pretty good ratio” to him.

“If there’s improvements to be made, they’ll make them,” he said. “It was the first event – bring on the second.”

Managing expectations ‘important’, Venues Ōtautahi says

Venues Ōtautahi (VŌ) chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare said the stadium was designed for 25,000 people. To allow for bigger crowds at large concerts, creating an external precinct “has always been part of the plan”.

“It's just how the building has been designed, so it's not a choice that Venues Ōtautahi have made.”

It wasn’t an uncommon practice either, she said, with many venues doing the same thing.

But Harvie-Teare acknowledged communicating this to people was something they would have to work on for future events.

“We had it in our pre-event communications. We also had it on social media, but it wasn't necessarily there when someone purchased a ticket,” she said.

“Managing expectations is really important. I get it. If you're expecting one thing and you get another, you're going to be disappointed.”

But while the plan “at this point in time” was to have external precincts at large events, Harvie-Teare said they would consider the best configuration for the external precincts.

They were trying to figure out if they could accommodate more punters in permanent facilities.

“That's absolutely what we're going to try and do, but we just have to make sure that it doesn't compromise the guest experience and it doesn't compromise safety.”

The next event set to have an extra seats, 5000 in this case, would be the All Blacks v France test match in July.

NZ Rugby said it would be working closely with VŌ ahead of the game.

“As the first All Blacks Test at the new stadium, we are committed to making it a memorable experience for every fan.

“DHL Super Rugby Pacific is providing valuable learnings that we are applying as we continue to work through final preparations for what promises to be a historic occasion for rugby in New Zealand,” a spokesperson said.