Salvaging 800 seats from Christchurch's demolished Queen Elizabeth II Stadium could save Lakes Leisure in Queenstown over $70,000.
The outdoor stadium seats at the Queenstown Events Centre, managed by Lakes Leisure, were installed during the centre's construction in 1997 and have now come to the end of their life.
It has been proposed the Queenstown Lakes District Council consent to moving funding forward so the seats can be bought.
Lakes Leisure had allocated $132,000 in its 2013-14 long-term plan to replace the outdoor stadium seats and now ''an opportunity has arisen with the demolition of the QEII stadium in Christchurch to acquire 800 pre-used seats'', a report to be discussed at the full council meeting tomorrow said.
The number includes 50 spare seats.
The seats were said to be in ''excellent condition'' and could be bought for $62,000 in the current year, the report said.
''In order to finalise the transaction, council is required to approve a budget transfer as follows: increasing the capital grant to Lakes Leisure in 2012-13 by $62,000 and reducing 2013-14 by 132,666. The overall effect is a budget saving of $70,666.''
Lakes Leisure events and venues manager Jason Marrable said, if purchase was approved tomorrow, the seats could arrive in the second week of January and remedial work to install them would begin immediately.
It is intended to have the new seats installed before the England vs New Zealand four-day warm-up cricket match, scheduled for February 27 to March 2. The old seats, which consisted of plastic and steel, would be recycled.
The new seats would be a huge improvement in terms of comfort because they featured a back rest, unlike the current seats, Mr Marrable said.
Their expected lifespan was between seven and 10 years.
