Watch: Stadium construction starts the year strong

The steel superstructure of One New Zealand Stadium at Te Kaha is now complete, marking a major milestone for the $683 million project.

In a new video released today, Christchurch City Council Project Director Kent Summerfield provides an update on this latest achievement and a look at other key work areas around the site.

The video also shows the progress on several other areas of the site, including the exterior wall and roof cladding, seating bowl and player facilities in the western stand.

Construction will continue throughout 2025, with the stadium project on budget and on track to open in April 2026.

80+ steel modules in 14 months

The hardworking team on site has now successfully prefabricated and installed over 80 steel modules - completing the entire superstructure of the city's new stadium. 

The first module, a 75 tonne radial truss roof support, was installed in December 2023. Over the following 14 months, crews have hit milestone after milestone to pull off the challenging task.

A look-back at the key milestones of the superstructure work is included below.

Faces of Te Kaha: Paul Smyth

Position: Senior Safety Manager, Southbase.

Day to day I… arrange upcoming works to make sure the job runs smoothly. I'm on site about 65% of the time, and in the office the rest.

The best part of my job... seeing a project through from start to finish, and working with the BESIX crew and the talented subs and people on site. I enjoy the everyday camaraderie. 

Past projects: I've been in New Zealand for 30 years and I've worked on projects like the BNZ Centre, schools, and Wigram Airforce Museum. 

Outside of work... I golf, fish, hunt deer.

February progress snapshot

Works continues at pace across the worksite. Here's a closer look at some of the key areas of activity across the site.

The exterior cladding is progressing well from the south end of the stadium, along Tuam Street. The steel work in this area has also received its final coat of paint and windows are also being installed.

All the major steel components have now been installed. The team continue to work on infilling the last sections that were installed at the north end in late January. Work on the secondary steel will continue over the next few months.

Overall, there will be 13,000 tonnes of steel in One New Zealand Stadium at Te Kaha. 

Inside the stadium, almost all of the tiered concrete plats are now in place. Metalwork and handrails in the seating bowl will soon start to be installed, with the seats to follow in the coming months. The stadium will have 25,000 permanent seats, with an additional 5,000 that can be added for large sporting events. The seats will feature a traditional grey and black kowhaiwhai pattern depicting a hammerhead shark.

Fit-out work within all the stands is well advanced. The photo above shows the progress in one of the players' changing rooms on the ground floor of the west stand.

Te Kaha Streets progress update

Works on the street and water infrastructure upgrades around the stadium are continuing this year.

The photo above shows the progress at the corner of Madras Street and Tuam Street. The new footpaths and gardens can be seen on the east side of the road and the worksite has shifted to the west side of the road. 

In addition to Madras Street and Tuam Street, works are also taking place on Barbadoes Street, Lichfield Street, Ash Street and Fitzgerald Avenue.

The project is approaching the halfway point, with the bulk of works on track to wrap up around the middle of the year. Landscaping and other minor works will continue into late 2025. Keep up to date with the latest news and traffic management information on the Isaac Construction website.

Site progress photos

Want to keep track of how  construction is progressing? We regularly publish images on the News and Announcements page of our website. There's also a library of monthly photos in the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page.

What to expect over the coming months

Due to the huge size of the project, different stages of work will overlap to streamline the process. That means as one phase of work progresses across the site (working from south to north), the next phase will follow closely behind it.

Q1 2025 - The final radial trusses were installed at the northern end of the arena in January, with infilling continuing into February. Cladding will progress around the stadium to the east and west sides towards the north. Internal fit-out works will continue in all stands including bowl metalwork and handrails. External works around the arena will progress behind the cladding progress. Demobilisation of major cranes will commence this quarter.

Q2 2025 - Roof and wall secondary steel will progress ahead of the roof and wall cladding continuing towards the north. External works around the arena will gain momentum as the external stairs are built. Internal fit-out works will continue in all stands including bowl metalwork and handrails.