One New Zealand Stadium, the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena, also known as ''Te Kaha'', is a multi-use sports arena in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. It is situated on land bordered by Hereford, Madras, Tuam, and Barbadoes streets. The facility is designed as a replacement for

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 earthqu ...

, which was damaged in the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

and demolished in 2019. The stadium is part of the

Christchurch Central Recovery Plan The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, often referred to as the Blueprint, is the plan developed by the Fifth National Government of New Zealand for the recovery of the Christchurch Central City from a series of earthquakes, in particular the F ...

developed by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

in 2012, and is scheduled to open in April 2026. Chch Central Recovery Plan 324

Progress

After many years of discussion, the city council confirmed a stadium investment case in December 2019 and cabinet approved its funding contribution in March 2020. Completion of the construction project was hoped for 2024. Construction began in January 2023 and the current planned date for opening is April 2026. On 22 July 2021, a majority of

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

councillors made a preliminary decision to reduce the capacity to 25,000, but councillors voted on 12 August 2021 to backtrack on that decision after it was revealed the 30,000-seat option would only cost an extra $50 million, rather than the $88 million councillors were originally advised of.

Timeline

2012

In July 2012, the Christchurch Central Development Unit released their 100-day blueprint also known as the

. The plan included a new permanent 35,000 seat multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue as an anchor project within a scheme for a future city vision. The site is bounded by Tuam, Madras, Hereford and Barbadoes Streets. The Government took responsibility for acquiring the land needed for the stadium.

2017

The Multi-Use Arena Pre-Feasibility Study: Christchurch was requested by the Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration

Nicky Wagner Nicola Joanne Wagner (born 23 July 1953) is a former New Zealand politician. After a career in teaching and business, she was a National Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2005 to 2020, when she retired. Wagner repr ...

and the

to develop and present a pre-feasibility study for the development of a new multi-use arena. This study did not consider any options with 35,000 seats as option as it would be too expensive and the general consensus among stakeholders (except for International Rugby) was that the capacity was higher than Christchurch needed, and was prohibitively expensive.

2021

In March 2021, a consortium of businesses were confirmed as the successful tenderer for the design and construction of the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena. The group known as Kōtui is led by Australian-based stadium construction experts,

Besix Watpac BESIX Watpac is an Australian construction and civil engineering company. Formerly listed in on the Australian Securities Exchange, it is now a subsidiary of Besix. History BESIX Watpac was founded by Gregory Watkins in Brisbane, Queensland as ...

. Kōtui includes Christchurch-based construction companies Southbase Construction and

Fulton Hogan Fulton Hogan is a large infrastructure construction, roadworks and aggregate supplier company in New Zealand, which is also active in wider Australasia. The company was founded by Julius Fulton and Robert Hogan in Dunedin in 1933. In 2013 th ...

, local seismic engineering specialists Lewis Bradford, Christchurch architects

Warren & Mahoney Warren and Mahoney is an international architectural and interior design practice - one of the few third generation architectural practices in the history of New Zealand architecture. It is a highly awarded architectural practice, with office ...

, and global stadium design experts Populous and Mott MacDonald.

2022

The name of the land the stadium sits on is 'Te Kaha', a shortened version of Te Kaharoa (meaning 'enduring strength'), which is the name that was gifted by Ngāi Tūāhuriri. On 14 July, the Christchurch City Council voted to sign a $683 million contract to build Te Kaha. This will require the council to invest an extra $150 million, which they plan to do by increasing rates. The council received 30,000 submissions about the stadium, with 77% being in favour. Barry Bragg, the Te Kaha project delivery board chairman, said it was a fixed price contract, meaning that there will be no further increases of the cost of the project.

2024

In July, a sponsorship deal was announced, giving naming rights for the stadium for 10 years to the telecommunications company

One New Zealand One New Zealand (formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand) is a New Zealand telecommunications company. One NZ is the largest wireless carrier in New Zealand, accounting for 38% of the country's mobile share market in 2021. Corporate history ...

. The stadium is to be known as ''One New Zealand Stadium''.

References

External links

Official website

Te Kaha News and Announcements
{{Christchurch earthquakes Sports venues in Christchurch Indoor arenas in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Christchurch Stadiums under construction Crusaders (rugby union) Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Christchurch Central Recovery Plan