Christchurch stadium budget blowout: Residents views on rising costs sought

The cost of building Christchurch's multi-use arena has jumped by up to $150 million. Photo / Supplied

The Christchurch City Council is turning to residents for their views on what to do about the over-budget new stadium.

It comes after news the project will now cost up to $683 million.

There are three options for the stadium now: increase the budget, scale back the project or halt it.

The council has agreed to seek the public's opinion.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said as a city, they have to decide how important the arena is to them and whether they are prepared to invest more in order to get the type of venue they want.

People will have just under four weeks, until July 5, to have their say.

The budget blowout was revealed last week after the final design and construct submission was received from lead contractor BESIX Watpac.

That, along with projected volatility in the commodity market, has increased the expected price. The expected budget for the project before this was $533m.

The opening date is also expected to be delayed once again, until April 2026.

BESIX Watpac was asked to bring the costs down and to provide a fixed price to eliminate the risk of more cost escalations to the Christchurch City Council.

The project was marred by controversy last year when the city council decided to slash seating capacity to 25,000, after saying the budget had already blown out by $131 million.

The decision divided the city. Thousands signed an online petition to stick with the original capacity, fearing they could miss out on big All Blacks matches and other key events, and prompted a U-turn to the original 30,000 capacity.

Work on the multi-use arena (CMUA) was initially due to be completed by the end of 2024 but the increase in seats pushed it out to mid-2025.

Earlier this month the Herald reported the project had been delayed a further six months until the end of 2025.