Stadium could create more jobs than forecast

Construction of the Forsyth Barr Stadium could create more jobs in Dunedin than first thought, Carisbrook Stadium Trust officials say.

With more than 320 people inducted to work on, or visit, the stadium site, and up to 100 people doing so each day, it was possible original estimates of jobs for 600 workers "could well be exceeded", trust development director Darren Burden said yesterday.

"We are quite positive with those sorts of numbers," he said.

Mr Burden's comments came during an update on progress at yesterday's Dunedin City Council meeting.

He said "the majority" of workers at the site were from Dunedin.

Outside companies awarded contracts for specialised aspects of the project had opted to employ Dunedin workers or relocate workers to the city for the project, he said.

"There has been quite a number of trades that have been let locally.

"There have obviously been some specialised trades that have gone out of the region," he said.

More companies had also been confirmed to provide trades at the construction site, although the names were not yet available to be released, he told councillors.

Elsewhere, several key figures contained in a written report prepared for yesterday's meeting - detailed in the Otago Daily Times last week - had changed since the report was prepared in July, he said.

In particular, the number of piles successfully driven at the site was now "well in excess" of 300 - more than half the 530 to be driven across the entire site.

Work on the stadium's foundations, including beams and the pouring of concrete, had begun, and overall construction progress was "very good", he said.

Total expenditure had reached $25.6 million, up from the $22.3 million contained in the report, and total funding committed through procurements was about $75 million, up from $61 million in the report, Mr Burden said.

Significantly, overall spending so far was still tracking under the project's guaranteed maximum price contract, he said.

Private sector contracts worth $27.06 million had now been confirmed, with just over $1 million worth of contracts confirmed in the past month, trust commercial manager Guy Hedderwick said.

That was "well ahead" of expectations and the benchmark of the Westpac Stadium in Wellington during the same stage of its development, he said.