KEY POINTS:
Fletcher Construction is taking charge of Eden Park now that Saturday's Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand and Australia is over.
After a long and sometimes agonising build-up, work will officially start at 7.30am on Thursday to upgrade Eden Park for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The first job involves demolishing the South Stand, a landmark since 1959 and a tatty one at that. By October 2010, a new three-tier, 21,500-seat stand will take its place, with exterior silver fern arches and landscaping out the back on Reimers Ave.
Eden Park redevelopment chief executive Adam Feeley said it would be misleading to suggest there will be no disruption from the huge construction job in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood.
But, with Fletcher Construction and the Auckland City Council, the parties have gone to great lengths to minimise the effects of more than two years of trucks coming and going, dust and noise from blasting 8000cu m of volcanic basalt rock.
The council has imposed strict hours of work and all trucks are banned from Reimers Ave, Cricket Ave and Walters Rd. They must come and go via Sandringham Rd.
A fulltime liaison officer, Alex Lee, is on hand to oversee relations with neighbours.
Difficulties aside, the project is expected to be a local fascination, particularly for curious children observing four giant tower cranes, huge dump trucks and construction of the new stadium, inspired by Maungawhau (Mt Eden).
Eden Park Neighbours' Association president Mark Donnelly said it was early days as far as the demolition of the South Stand and construction were concerned, but things had got off to a good start with the parties.
"It's going to be tricky and just a matter of keeping on top of issues as they arise," he said.
Project manager Waren Warfield said Ward Demolition would take two months to demolish much of the South Stand, starting at the east end.
There would be a gap until the last game of the Air New Zealand Cup at Eden Park on October 20 before the last of the stand was razed.
About 75 per cent of the stand will be recycled. The roof and cladding are worth $600 a tonne as scrap metal, the concrete will be crushed for roading aggregate and the plastic chairs are being shared around Lake Karapiro for the 2010 World Rowing Championships, Counties Rugby and Counties Hockey.
Only weeks into demolition, Fletcher Construction will begin excavating for the foundations. This will involve drilling at least 8m into the rock to ensure there is 5m of rock to sit the foundations on.
Construction of the new stand is due to begin in October and take two years.
Mr Feeley said the $240.5 million budget was holding up. The external design had been completed, but designs were continuing to try to provide better entertainment spaces internally.
A new, two-tier east stand with 8600 seats and an acoustic barrier to contain noise had been designed to allow for a roof costing $7 million to $10 million at a later stage.
THE TIMETABLE
* Two months to demolish most of the South Stand, starting at the east end.
* The rest of the stand goes after the last Air New Zealand Cup game on October 20.
* Construction of the new 21,500-seat stand is due to begin in October and take two years.
* The project is designed to give Eden Park a total seating capacity of 60,000 in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
