Winter Sports
Image 10: Full scrum testing by the All Blacks on 20 July 2011
stadium hosted four fabulous pool games for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and has just held a very successful community concert attended by 20,000 people. At the time of writing, the stadium is again going to be fully tested with a sold-out Elton John concert in late November.
Conclusions
This has been a visionary project. Throughout the entire planning stages of the stadium, the Carisbrook Stadium Trust and the Project Delivery Team, led by Arrow International, ensured that the turf remained at the forefront of the design in this ‘whole stadium’ solution. The stadium was built around the turf rather than the other way round. This was a project where the design process was driven by feasibility from day one, and it
Image 11: the first A-league pre-season football game on 20 August 2011
was a rigorous and challenging process with the words “no more time, no more money, find another solution” being a common phrase to the design team. Not surprisingly, in terms of turf consultancy, this project has been one of epic proportions. The huge time commitment, requirement to meet non- negotiable deadlines with clear decisions and recommendations, and overall technical challenges that may not be seen again in a stadium in this country for some time (although rumour has it that the earthquake-damaged AMI Stadium in Christchurch may be a roofed stadium rebuild).
It has been a most rewarding experience to have worked with such a dedicated team of project and delivery managers, consultants, contractors and
individuals. As with any brand new stadium, there will be challenging financial targets to meet, which will need to be carefully balanced against events planned on the pitch.
Hopefully, managers of this new stadium will tread very carefully as experience is slowly gained with its unique management. And will we see more of these designs around the world, with a permanent roof to protect spectators and players from harsh winter elements? I suspect we will.
Acknowledgements: Dr Richard Gibbs is the technical director of Auckland-based Sports Surface Design & Management, the consultancy division of Recreational Services Ltd (
www.ssdm.co.nz). The author wishes to thank Lale Ieremia and Mike McCleery of Arrow International Ltd. and Coryn Huddy of Dunedin Venues Ltd. for their assistance in the preparation of this article.
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DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012 PC 61
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