New stadium costs revealed

Preliminary work on Christchurch’s planned multi-use stadium has estimated construction costs for three options, ranging from $384 to $561 million.

The estimated costs for the options being considered came to light in a Christchurch City Council report released publicly on Monday, but provided no detail on what type of stadium each scenario would build.

Since then, The Press has clarified: option one is a stadium with covered seats only, estimated to cost about $385m; option two is a stadium with a transparent ETFE plastic roof similar to that at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr stadium, estimated to cost about $470m; option three is a stadium with a solid roof, concrete floor and retractable turf (so grass could grow outside), estimated to cost about $561m. Council citizens and community general manager Mary Richardson said all three options were for a stadium with

25,000 permanent and 5000 temporary seats.

The figures come from August

2017’s pre-feasibility study and from later work done by officials, while considering whether the stadium and metro sports facility should be combined. They are based on work by quantity surveyors W T Partnership.

They are not the final costs of the stadium, the council and Government are currently working on an investment case which will lead to more accurate costs.

Richardson said option two was the preferred option, but the investment case for the stadium needed to evaluate which option ‘‘will produce the best outcome for the Christchurch, financially, commercially and socially’’.

The estimate for the preferred option includes about $20m of site preparation, $300m for construction and fitout, $41.5m in professional fees, $3.2m in consent fees,

$1.5m in enabling fees, $37m in contingency, and $60m in escalation.

On Monday, the council revealed a proposal to spend

$220m of Government money on the stadium, from a $300m capital fund to be spent as the city decides. The remaining $80m would be split between transport projects and the Avon River Red Zone.

When combined with the $253m of council money already pledged in the long-term plan, it would bring the available funds up to $473m – enough to cover the estimated cost of option two.

The council report said the combined funding would ‘‘provide an opportunity to minimise the extent of external debt’’ for the development of the stadium.

It said other suggested funding sources included contributions from regional councils, the presale of commercial rights, and investors or commercial partners.

A spokesman for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said a formal investment case (currently being worked on) would test the earlier assumptions and develop design specifications. This will feed into detailed design plans, which will be costed to find the final cost of the project. ‘‘We are aiming to have the majority of the investment case completed by the end of the year.’’

The council report gives the following key project milestones: confirmed shortlisted options for the investment case by midDecember, completion of the investment case and early site works by late May, and approval of the investment case by midJuly.

The new costs differ from those given in the pre-feasibility study from August 2017, which gave estimates for four options ranging from $368m to $584m.