$533m stadium design ‘lacks green credentials’

The design of Christchurch’s new $533 million stadium Te Kaha has been heavily criticised by some city councillors over what they say is a lack of environmental sustainability.

Christchurch City Council approved the preliminary design of the stadium yesterday, allowing for work on a more detailed design to proceed.

Three councillors – Mike Davidson, Celeste Donovan and Sara Templeton – voted against the design while Yani Johanson, Melanie Coker and Pauline Cotter abstained from the vote.

Davidson said the council had been clear that sustainability needed to be a core part of the arena’s design, but instead it had become a ‘‘nice to have’’ and the design was ‘‘a business-as-usual 20th-century stadium with few high-tech options’’.

‘‘What we’re after is a 21stcentury stadium, a green stadium designed with the climate crisis in mind.’’

Davidson was also concerned about escalating costs of the facility, as were Coker and Cotter.

The new stadium is being built in the central city and is bordered by Madras, Hereford, Barbadoes and Tuam streets. It is scheduled to open in June 2025, and ground improvements are expected to begin in March.

Project lead Alistair Pearson said sustainability was a key objective of the project.

But the stadium is being built with a steel frame, concrete bleachers for seating and a plastic roof, in line with stadium design principles used around the world.

Donovan, elected to the council in October following a by-election in the Coastal ward, said the city deserved ‘‘a unique, world-leading design’’ and ‘‘not a replica of other stadiums in the country’’.

She urged her colleagues to remove politics from the decision and consider if the design was fit for purpose.

‘‘There is a strong temptation to make politically popular decisions in the short-term without considerations of the longerterm implications.’’

Donovan said the council had to build for the future, and that included focusing on sustainability and lower carbon emissions.

A decision to add solar panels at a future point suggested designers were ‘‘paying lip service’’ to something that should be a core design principle, she said.

Johanson repeated his earlier beliefs that the stadium should have been built at Lancaster Park, while he also acknowledged the council was past the point of having discussions about the location.

He hoped sustainability aspects could be picked up in the detailed design.

Cr Sam MacDonald said approving the preliminary design was an important step, and it would be devastating if the council put another road block in the way of the development.

‘‘What the public have said time and time again, they just want this built now.’’

The council decided last August to build a 30,000-seat stadium, revoking a resolution made a month earlier to build the stadium with 25,000 seats.

The July decision prompted an outcry from residents and the business community and led to half the council changing their votes to support a bigger stadium.

Templeton was the only councillor against enlarging it.

The larger stadium will cost an additional $50m, lifting the total budget to $533m.

The council also decided yesterday to approve the name Te Kaha for the stadium, gifted by Nga¯i Tu¯a¯huriri, meaning ‘‘the strength’’.

It is a shortened version of Te Kaharoa which was gifted as a name for the precinct around it.

‘‘What we’re after is a 21st-century stadium, a green stadium designed with the climate crisis in mind.’’ Cr Mike Davidson