Stadium demo crushes the budget
Lancaster Park, scene of so much past glory, looks set to leave Christchurch with one final gift – an extra $8 million in the bank.
Demolition of the famous stadium is well under way, with work to pull down the remaining two stands beginning in the next few weeks.
The job is likely to come in under budget, with city councillors told this week the price tag will be a little over $12m, rather than the $20m expected.
While the site will be levelled and empty of everything but memories in 12 months, almost every piece of the stadium is being reused or recycled.
Just 2 per cent of the 100,000 cubic metres of rubble from the stadium is expected to end up in landfill. Some 40,000 tonnes of gravel has been earmarked as foundations for the running track at the Nga¯ Puna Wai sports hub in southwest Christchurch.
Concrete from the Deans and Paul Kelly stands is likely to end up being used in the Lyttelton Harbour redevelopment.
The 45m-high Paul Kelly stand is next up. A crane capable of lifting 400 tonnes will cut up the stand’s roof and remove it in sections. Contractors are then likely to break up the top two tiers then the lower level, work overlapping with demolition of the 40m-high Deans stand.
Lee Butcher, who is managing the project for the council, said the demolition was being handled in a ‘‘very considered and careful’’ way to minimise waste.
‘‘Lancaster Park will live on ... all over NZ.’’
Project manager Lee Butcher
‘‘We’ve recycled everything from the seats to the cable trays and the toilet pans – everything we can,’’ he said.
‘‘The money we save is going back into the project to help drive the costs down.’’
Metal being salvaged includes the steel reinforcements in the foundations and 600 tonnes from the stands’ roofs, which will be sold as scrap.
Polystyrene insulation above the corporate suites is also being recycled for a fraction of the $20,000 it would have cost to dump. The revenue, along with the income from selling fixtures and fittings, is expected to net about $200,000. Butcher said he had kept costs down by cutting overheads, managing the project directly and hiring smaller contractors, many of them local.
‘‘It’s one of those jobs where I didn’t just want to write a scope last year and put it out to the market: please come and knock down another building for the council.
‘‘Because it’s not just another building ... it’s so much more to many people.’’
The seats are all sold, and Butcher is delighted at how much will be saved.
‘‘Lancaster Park will live on in structures and in ‘man caves’ and all over New Zealand.’’