John Bridgman: The Influencers

For Ōtākaro, 2019 is going to be a year where we go up rather than out. Having opened the City Promenade, completed the bulk of the South Frame and finished almost all of our roading projects, we’re largely out of your way on the streets.

So, you will be seeing activity ramp up on both the Te Pae and Metro Sports Facility sites.  Te Pae is over a quarter of the way through construction and on track to start holding conventions and exhibitions from late 2020.

The most obvious change you will see this year is the construction of the 3600m2 exhibition hall, to the south of the well-advanced auditorium. It effectively doubles the size of the building on the site. At the peak of construction, you will see more than 400 people working on Te Pae.

Around May, the last of the 7000 or so in-ground stone columns will be installed on the Metro Sports Facility site between Moorhouse Ave and St Asaph St. This is one of the largest ground improvement projects of its kind in New Zealand and will help mitigate liquefaction risks or damage to pools and courts in any future earthquakes. We are working on reaching an agreement with a Main Works contractor that will see work on the building start when groundworks finish.

These are large facilities that will have a positive impact for everyone, from kids learning to swim through to the operators of the South Island’s largest tourism ventures. It’s an exciting time to be watching the Christchurch skyline.