Christchurch’s temporary stadium celebrates 10 years this month. The devastating earthquakes of 2011 left Christchurch without a large outdoor sporting and music events centre. As a city with a strong appreciation of sport and music, the government deemed it a high priority to provide a suitable facility for the community. Christchurch Stadium was built as a temporary venue at Rugby League Park and completed in March 2012. For many, its construction symbolised the start of the city’s recovery and rebuild.
With flexible seating and a capacity of 18,600 for standard events (including 8,000+ under cover) and additional seating configurations to accommodate 25,000 spectators, the stadium was the first and largest facility rebuilt following the 2011 earthquake. It also features corporate facilities and TV-standard lighting.
The Aotea Electric Canterbury team working on the stadium’s lighting
High access experience and a scissor lift are a must for this type of electrical work
The venue plays host to Canterbury Crusaders home games and has hosted major music concerts including The Foo Fighters and Phil Collins.
Complex 3D models were created of the grandstands and unique design techniques were used in applying seismic loadings to the structure. The grandstand structures were designed to provide hinge points alleviating stress over the 120 metre span of some of the structures. The structure models contained up to 10,000 members and an analysis programme ran through the 40 load cases considered for the structure. Upon construction, the proprietary grandstand systems were reinforced to deal with the high seismic loads with additional bays of scaffold frames, plan bracing, shear keys and tie-down straps.
The new stadium was initially known as AMI Stadium until its contract expired in August 2018. The stadium is now known as Orangetheory Stadium following a naming-rights deal with the fast-growing exercise franchise. It is also known non-commercially as Christchurch Stadium.
Although in recent seasons the Crusaders have faced new pandemic challenges, and the long-awaited new stadium is not yet built, this stadium has given us 10 years of great sporting and musical memories and is still going strong. The ‘temporary’ stadium will continue to serve the community until at least 2025 when Christchurch’s new $533m stadium is scheduled to open.