Canterbury Multi-Use Arena
The Canterbury Multi-Use Arena, also known as Te Kaha is a Multi-Use Sports Arena to be built on land bordered by Hereford, Madras, Tuam, and Barbadoes streets. The Multi-Use Arena is designed as a replacement for Lancaster Park which was damage in the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake and subsequently demolished in 2019. The stadium was designed as part of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan in 2012 by the then Fifth National Government of New Zealand. 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 is hoped for 2024. On 22 July 2021, a majority of Christchurch City Council councillors made a preliminary decision last month 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 Christchurch Central Recovery  Plan it 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 6 hectare 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 then Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner and the Christchurch City Council 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, Kōtui includes Christchurch-based construction companies Southbase Construction and Fulton Hogan, local seismic engineering specialists Lewis Bradford, Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney, and global stadium  design experts Populous and Mott MacDonald. 2022. It was announced on 27 January that the name of the facility would be 'Te Kaha'. Te Kaha being a shortened version of Te Kaharoa (meaning ‘enduring strength’), which is the name that Ngāi Tūāhuriri gifted to the land bounded by Madras, Hereford, Barbadoes and Tuam streets.