How Lancaster Park has changed during 2021...

Work to turn Lancaster Park into a green recreational space and community sports fields started back in April, and it's been a year of great progress.

As we approach 2022, when community sport will return to the area once again, here's a peek behind the fence at what we've achieved so far...

Since the stadium was demolished in 2019, we've:

• Broken out and crushed 214 truckloads of foundation, and buried it onsite.
• Shaped and consolidated the base of the park with 1357 truckloads of bulk fill.
• Brought in 1429 truckloads of granular river run material to raise the level of the site and create grades suitable for sports fields.
• Covered the whole site with 950 truckloads of topsoil, to a depth of 20 centimetres, to grow the new turf in. The three full size, fully irrigated sports fields have been been sowed, mowed and are looking fantastic.

​We estimate that if all the truckloads we used were parked end-to-end in 3736 separate trucks, they'd reach all the way from Christchurch to Ashburton.

We plan to reopen Lancaster Park by Anzac Day 2022 – the perfect milestone for having the historic memorial gates (artist render above) restored and available to the community.

Before: April 2021

After: November 2021

What's next?

In the coming months, we'll:

• Install a three metre wide pathway for walking and cycling that goes around the whole perimeter of Lancaster Park.
• Install a bollard and chain fence around the whole park, as well as temporary toilets and changing rooms.
• Completely restore the memorial gates.
• Build a retaining wall at northern end of the park.
• Keep talking with the community and stakeholders about our plans, including features of the park like the play areas and what sort of equipment they might include, what sort of vegetation we'll plant, and how the community buildings will look and operate.

Stay updated

Check here for background information on the Lancaster Park project. If you know anyone who's interested in the project, they can sign up to this newsletter there too.

Email lancasterpark@ccc.govt.nz if you have any questions.

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