Cheers for commenting.

Since I am not a member of the CST, just a fan of the idea of a stadium, I don’t have the answers as to the future ownership of the stadium, nor does that bother me in any way shape or form.

As to the cost, $180m has been set for a long time now, and of course there is an over run buffer. I believe that $180+ is an absolute bargain for a fully roofed modern stadium capable of 30,000 people. There’s possibly nothing like it globally, we are getting one heck of a bargain.

However, even if the final cost is $200m, that is nothing compared to the wacko claims of the anti-stadium people who have put figures of up to $450m. For $450m I’d be wanting something half as spectacular as the new Emirates Stadium in North London. But as we all know this figure will never be reached.

It astounds me that the anti-stadium people somehow know more about the cost of the stadium than the developers and architects. HOK Sport are possibly the best global team of stadium architects ever. If they give you a quoted price for a stadium, that’s the price. Not 1.5 times greater of twice the price. Sure there are accountants and other sceptics whom claim that it can’t be built for that price, but they are biased. Biased assumptions for accountancy always create the figures you want to see, not what they actually are. It amazes me that people are also willing to accept the word of those against the stadium as opposed to those doing the sums, who know the actual costs.

What is it about the Kiwi psyche that we don’t trust anyone? I mean what purpose do they have in lying to us about the cost. If they beg for $180m but all along know that the cost will be $450m, do they really think they will be bailed out. There are some pretty astounding hypothetical what-if’s proposed by the Anti lobby. It is very possible that the council can’t and won’t bail them out if that was the case, and of course the bitter and twisted buggers who live in this town would gather up a posy and run them out of town (although they want to do that now).

As for the international design competition? I never hear of such a comp, I was always in favour of one, but never assumed it was happening, it was just something I was talking about on this blog.

If we had such a competition, there is no guarantee that we would have got a stadium that we could have afforded.

As for the answers to you questions, why don’t you email the CST, their web site has a contact section. They’ve been excellent in getting back to me. Wouldn’t hurt.

Here are some questions I have yet to see addressed anywhere:

Who owns the stadium upon completion? My understanding is that the trust owning it will remain in private hands under the control of the private individuals. Is that true? If the Council (i.e., the public who is expected to put up a substantial portion of funds) retains a proportional ownership, will the Council receive a proportional share of profits (if any)?

What happened to the international design competition originally envisioned?

One gets the feeling that this whole project was a foregone conclusion in the minds of a few to be thrust down the throats and at the expense of the many. Such it often is with stadia. Get the project started, then there’s no turning back.

I am someone ’sensitive’ to the way things look. I get no pleasure out of ‘ugly’. I can live with ‘functional’ if it is fit for purpose and materials chosen as well as style are commensurate with ‘functional.’ Often these requirements are not blended to achieve something pleasant.

The size of the proposed stadium is such that it could end up a very big eye sore. I would find that hard to bear forever and a day.

It was initially a protest against the design of the Stadium, but then I’m just such a huge fan, and it’s the up there with some of my fav buildings now.

Anne, I feel that you are actually being just a little too cynical. Those are indeed the plans and designs which HOK and CST are working on at the moment.

Yes I am aware that they will be working to cost, but in this negative media flooded time, there are numerous buildings, stadiums, civic projects all into their hundreds of millions of dollars which are all coming within budget these days. What’s to say our new stadium won’t be.

If we are given the choice between being positive and looking forward, or to be negative and throwing up barriers, doesn’t it make the day happier if we look for the positives?

As stated, I don’t like the design they have proposed, but at least it’s not like some of the bubble gum – disney like baseball stadiums they have designed in the states. I wish it was different, but I can live with it.

I would have liked to have seen an architectural competition held for the design of this. Who knows what you would have got.

However, I quite like nice pictures, and there are quite some on this site.

…I wasn’t calling for any part of Carisbrook to be preserved, it’s quite simply too ugly.

Are you aware that the proposed stadium will be built to cost, not design (Farry). What will this mean? Anybody’s guess but unlikely to be pretty! And definitely not like any of the pictures on this site.