Site readied for new metro sports facility

Work is under way on installing the first of about 8000 in-ground stone columns to support construction of the new Metro Sports Facility.

The Metro Sports Facility is being jointly funded by the Christchurch City Council and Ōtākaro Limited and is being built on the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Antigua Street.

The facility will include a 10-lane 50-metre competition pool with spectator seating, a diving pool, leisure pools, hydroslides, multipurpose indoor courts, group fitness rooms, an aquatic sensory space, and a high performance sports centre with facilities for coaching and training.

Today, March Menard Joint Venture has begun the task of preparing the site for the main construction work, which is due to begin next year.  

Ōtākaro Limited Chief Executive John Bridgman says the groundworks will ramp up throughout the year.

“March Menard JV will place about a dozen stone columns over the next week then test these, before beginning full scale installation around the start of October.”

At the peak of the process there will be four 80-tonne cranes onsite working six days a week to get the site ready by April next year for the main works contractor.

"Now that physical work is underway I hope sport and recreation participants can begin considering their future use of the facility with greater confidence," Mr Bridgman says.