Sink or swim for metro pool?
‘‘Considerable issues’’ with Christchurch’s delayed multimillion-dollar metro sports facility became clear nearly four months ago, O¯ ta¯ karo has revealed.
A $75 million budget blowout over the $300m metro sports facility has seen the new Government axe a deal with the preferred contractor.
O¯ ta¯ karo chief executive Albert Brantley said a late-July pricing submission by Leighs Cockram Joint Venture raised ‘‘considerable issues’’ in terms of the pricing of the project and risk allocations.
Yesterday, in her first major move as Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister, Wigram MP Megan Woods announced the agreement with the joint venture had been cancelled.
Instead, Woods asked Crownowned rebuild company Ota¯ ¯ karo to finish designing the building and to prepare to go out for a new build-only contract by March 2018.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, along with the Christchurch City Council, had been asked to work on an ‘‘urgent review’’ of options for the sports facility, including whether it would be beneficial to combine all or part of it with the city’s proposed new stadium.
Woods said the sports facility was originally due to open at the start of 2016 on a site bordered by St Asaph and Antigua streets and Moorhouse Ave. The latest proposed completion date would be the first quarter of 2021 – meaning Cantabrians would have waited a decade since the February 2011 earthquake for it to open.
Until now, O¯ ta¯ karo had been reviewing Leighs Cockram Joint Venture’s submission to complete the design and construction. It had previously selected the venture to proceed as the single early contractor for the design. The joint venture had been seen as the likely main works contractor.
The facility was a $217m priority project for the Government, but the budget later expanded to $246.3m and then about $300m. The additional $75m would have pushed the budget out to $321m.
Brantley said the contract termination was effective yesterday. O¯ ta¯karo had worked with the joint venture as early contractor for the past 15 to 18 months.
‘‘The blowout that the minister has talked about is actually not only an increase in the contractor’s price, but it’s also an estimation of what we have to carry for risk contingency for the project,’’ Brantley said.
The election was offered as a reason for why it took nearly four months for the partnership with the joint venture to come to an end.
‘‘Major decisions, you tend not to make those just prior to an election.
‘‘We had a caretaker Government while we were going through the arrangements around that and we just got caught in that time period.
‘‘The length of the period that we would’ve normally taken to do something would’ve been . . . much shorter,’’ Brantley said.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel agreed with Woods’ decision, saying the extra $75m for ‘‘what is already a very highcost project is just too much to ask both the taxpayers and the ratepayers of Christchurch and New Zealand’’.
‘‘There are elements within the multi-use arena [and] there are different elements within the metro sports facility, I think this is a great opportunity to actually stand back and have a look at all of those elements and ask ourselves ‘have we got them in the right place’? Could in fact we deliver better for less in a quicker period of time?’’ Dalziel said.
ChristchurchNZ chief executive Joanna Norris said Christchurch’s children and athletes had gone without ‘‘high-quality facilities for far too long’’.
National Party spokesman for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Matt Doocey attacked Woods’ decision.
‘‘Megan Woods’ announcement [yesterday] proclaiming she is getting the metro sports facility ‘back on track’ is nothing more than hot air and spin, and is clearly designed to mask the new Government’s decision to scale back the facility.
‘‘Much of the $75m is an estimate to cover the estimated risk and given the ground conditions in Christchurch and the experience gained by contractors working in these conditions on the justice precinct, this is not surprising,’’ Doocey said.
Construction of the justice precinct had been significantly delayed and was believed to be one of two projects that contributed to a big cut in Fletcher’s operating profit last financial year.
Leighs Construction managing director Anthony Leighs expressed disappointed on the joint venture’s behalf.
‘‘We’ve put a massive amount of effort into this project to date and we’re really disappointed. However, we do respect O¯ ta¯ karo’s decision and we hope that Canterbury gets the facility that they’re after and looking forward to in the near future,’’ he said.