Park transformed for ABs test
With fewer than 66 days till showtime, Trafalgar Park is in the midst of a transformation from humble provincial rugby ground to All Blacks home fortress.
As kickoff for the Rugby Championship clash against Argentina on September 8 draws closer, the installation of temporary seating to hold the expected crowd of 21,000 is well under way.
The work is being done by national scaffolding and event infrastructure company Acrow Ltd, using local labour as well as international expertise from Hong Kong, China, France, Canada, South Africa and the Netherlands.
Operations manager Martin Bremner said the crew had already put in 12 days to erect the 14,000 additional temporary seats required, with the final 7000 seats in the North Stand going up over the next week, as well as extensions to the east and west sides of the ground.
Once finished, the scaffolding will undergo final sign-offs by the Nelson City Council and an independent engineer.
Allowing for the slope of the old cycle track, the South Stand will be nine metres high, relative from front to back, while the North Stand will extend a further 2m.
Bremner estimated that 700 tonnes of steel was going into the build. ‘‘Each person will handle each piece multiple times – on average, our guys shift 6.8 kilotonnes.’’
Bremner was involved with Acrow’s 34m-high seating installations at Eden Park during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. ‘‘At the time, they were some of the biggest ones in the world,’’ he said.
‘‘But putting up 14,000 seats is not small on a world scale.’’
Almost one year on from securing Nelson’s first All Blacks test, Lewis said that despite the stress of bringing the event together, each box ticked only added to the excitement.
‘‘The focus for us is to make sure the stadium goes up, we put on the best test match possible and that the weather gods look after us.
‘‘As an event, this is one of huge proportions and, as Acrow have said, is one of the biggest in the world for a portable stadium . . . the key thing for me is that every seat has a magnificent view.’’
With successful turf remedial work completed earlier in the year, Trafalgar Park’s playing surface will not be used until the test match.
Lewis said his team was meeting weekly with NZ Rugby to discuss progress, as well as ‘‘a few other things to get our heads around,’’ such as traffic management. An extra 50 portable toilets have been ordered, while a security entourage of 220 and 90 volunteer ushers will be on hand for the game.
Then there are the logistics associated with hosting the world’s biggest rugby team. Around 285 items of All Blacks training equipment are scheduled to arrive ahead of the team, followed by a shipping container full of NZ Rugby equipment and the MonstaVision big screen.
Both teams will have a training run on Trafalgar Park ahead of the match. The park and its surrounding area will be off limits to the public from September 1.
‘‘Putting up 14,000 seats is not small on a world scale.’’
Martin Bremner, Acrow Ltd operations manager