Metro sports contractor drops action

Everyone can concentrate on finishing Christchurch’s Parakiore sports centre this year now the contractor has dropped court action, Crown infrastructure agency Rau Paenga says.

In September last year CPB Construction Pty Ltd (CPB) filed notices saying it wanted to suspend work on the centre and then terminate its contract if certain conditions weren’t met.

Rau Paenga went to the High Court in Auckland seeking orders forcing CPB to continue work and to litigate its claims through arbitration. Justice Geoffrey Venning issued the injunctions in a decision on October 24.

CPB filed documents in the Court of Appeal on December 19 seeking leave to appeal Justice Venning’s decision. It withdrew the application on February 13.

Rau Paenga has paid CPD $220 million up to October last year.

Rau Paenga’s chief executive John O’Hagan said CPB had continued work on site throughout the proceedings.

“Putting the legal action behind us allows everyone to refocus on getting Parakiore completed as soon as possible.

“The facility is now about 75 percent complete, but as reported at the end of last year, a gap remains between our desire to see construction finished at the end of this year and CPB’s mid-2025 projection,” O’Hagan said in a statement.

Work on closing the gap continued, O’Hagan said.

“We appreciate an opening date is at the forefront of everyone’s mind and aim to be able to provide a further update on a completion date and cost around the end of May.”

Rau Paenga did not answer questions about progress in the arbitration proceedings so far. CPB started work in March 2019 after winning the build-only contract at a price of $220 million, promising to complete the job by October 2021.

In September last year CPB revised its programme, forecasting a completion date of June 2025 at a final cost of $696 million. It issued default notices and demands for $453m for cost overruns, liabilities to subcontractors and a contract price adjustment. It also wanted a 28-month time extension.

Justice Venning, in a decision on October 25, issued orders preventing CPB from suspending or terminating the contract “until further order of the Court or arbitral tribunal”.