2020 has been a big year for Christchurch's final anchor project
Multi-Use Arena project takes leaps forward in 2020
We made significant progress on Canterbury’s roofed 25,000-seat Multi-Use Arena in 2020, as the city’s tenth and final anchor project continues to gather momentum.
Since the Crown approved the investment case for the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena early in 2020, we’ve progressed the planning and enabling works at pace to ready the central city site for construction.
Utilities providers are well advanced with their cable hauling and cutovers, and underground pipes have been diverted and decommissioned. This means the site bordered by Barbadoes, Tuam, Madras and Hereford streets will be a blank slate when early works begin next year.
Land Information New Zealand has formally stopped Cashel and Lichfield streets where they cross the arena site (we'd already temporarily closed these streets in October with the traffic management plan), and is reconfiguring cleared property titles into super lots.
The funding agreement between the Crown and Council has been formally signed; the Council is committing $253 million, and the central government $220 million towards the $473 million anchor project.
A delivery company, CMUA Project Delivery Ltd, has been established and Murray Strong appointed as the chair. Investor Richard Peebles and construction expert Steve Reindler have joined the board of directors, with additional directors to be announced in the coming months.
We also began amending the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan (CCRP) and the Christchurch District Plan so that we can effectively manage noise from the arena, while still supporting the regeneration of the central city.
This included engaging with the community on the type of rules that could be needed, and obtaining approval from the former Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration to investigate these planning changes further.
After further community consultation next year, the finalised amendments will be reported back to Council and submitted to the Minister responsible for Great Christchurch Regeneration.
In October we issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the design and construction of the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena, and, following a deadline extension request from the market, extended the RFP period until 29 January 2021 to give respondents extra time to formulate and submit their proposals.
CMUA Project Delivery Ltd Chair Murray Strong is pleased with the progress that the project has made this year and is looking forward to that momentum continuing to build in 2021.
“We’ve met some significant milestones in 2020, and the next 12 months will be crucial to delivering this arena on time and within budget. While there'll no doubt be challenges, I'm confident the project team will meet these head-on and continue the great work they've achieved this year." - Murray Strong
Work over the coming year will include appointing a contractor to undertake the pre-construction services phase and to develop the design for the arena. Enabling works will continue through the first two quarters of 2021, before early works get under way.
The Canterbury Multi-Use Arena is scheduled to open at the end of 2024.
To stay up-to-date with the CMUA progress, visit www.canterburyarena.co.nz; we update the News and Announcements page weekly. If you have any questions about our work on the Multi-Use Arena or would like further information, feel free to email us.
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