Christchurch City Councillors will decide on the design direction for the preliminary design phase for the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena at a council meeting tomorrow.

The recommended direction includes a U-shaped concourse and 25,000 seating capacity (36,000 in concert mode), with space for a ‘stage pocket’ at the northern end of the arena.

This design would reduce risk of turf damage from concerts and festivals, have a smaller on-site footprint, and ensures that the project stays within the $473 million budget.

Christchurch City Council Head of Recreation Sport and Events, Nigel Cox said “the world has changed dramatically since the investment case was prepared and signed off in 2019, and the price of construction materials and international shipping costs have risen astronomically across the board.”

Cost verification of an initial concept design of the ‘base case scheme’ – with 30,000 seats, concert staging on the field of play, and a full level 1 concourse – came in $131.4 million over budget.

After the value management process had been undertaken, the base case scheme was still $88.8 million over budget.

Mr Cox says these costs were due primarily to the rapidly escalating price of steel and shipping costs worldwide post Covid-19, and the increased scale needed to accommodate additional seating and a level one concourse.

A turf report also concluded that the base case scheme would have significant risks of turf failure and a turf farm would be required. This would cost an additional $1.2m to establish and about $1m annually to maintain.

Canterbury Crusaders Chief Executive Colin Mansbridge said the recommended design direction strikes a good balance between amenity, quality and cost-effectiveness.

“Our dream is for the new Multi-Use Arena to be a quality home ground for the Crusaders, and the recommended design direction ticks all the boxes for us.”