20 years ago:
• Christchurch’s Lancaster Park was due to undergo redevelopment, including installation of lights, realignment of the rugby pitch and eventual conversion to an all-seater stadium.
The $3.5 million lights installaton would allow day-night cricket and international rugby and rugby league matches to be played, and was expected to be completed by February 1997.
Meanwhile, the proposed $70 million Wellington railyard sports stadium was refused planning permission, delaying the opening until at least 1999.
The decision was regarded as a setback rather than the end for the project, and with it Wellington’s proposed bid for the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
Independent commissioners said there were problems with parking, traffic and public transport coping with spectators at the multi-purpose, 34,500-seat stadium.
15 years ago:
• Fletcher Construction’s contract to build a $180 million hospital for the Auckland District Health Board was the single biggest component of the Health Services Delivery Plan, which had a total cost of $423 million.
The contract represented a shot in the arm for the Auckland construction industry, with Fletchers making a commitment to use, where possible, local contractors for the 110 sub-trades required to complete the building.
The construction work force was to average 450 during the course of the project and, at peak times, there was to be 1000 people working on the site.
10 years ago:
• Further measures to strengthen the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service (WHRS), enhance consumer protection, hold building industry professionals to account and get leaky homes disputes settled faster through mediation and adjudication were announced.
These included requiring territorial authorities to place WHRS notices on affected property files, setting statutory time limits on mediation, changing the voting thresholds to make it easier for a class action approach to be taken by owners of units within apartment blocks, and enhancing the power and authority of adjudicators, including new offence provisions for failure to comply with a witness summons or intentionally disrupting proceedings.
5 years ago:
• Hawkins Construction reached pratical completion on Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium — the world’s largest, naturally-grassed and permanently-covered stadium, and the third-biggest EFTE-roofed building in the world.
Hawkins was the main contractor on the $190 million state-of-the-art stadium, and successfully delivered on its promise to complete the facility on time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup later that year.
Although Hawkins’ contract time frame was 24 months, the critical path was really 18 months to get enough of the project completed in order to start the grass growing on the stadium’s pitch.
Hawkins chief executive Chris Hunter said when the company signed up for the project, the design had yet to be completed, and Hawkins had effectively exposed itself to a number of extraordinary risks that “most other construction contractors would never touch,” he said.
