The Aranui Community Centre is an award-winning project that involved a modern, multi-purpose facility located in Christchurch. The Centre was developed to replace the Aranui Community Hall and the Aranui Wainoni Family Centre, both of which were demolished after sustaining earthquake damage.
The 967 m² building includes a large sports and function hall with retractable seating, indoor and outdoor stages, two meeting rooms, office spaces, and a commercial kitchen. Its design incorporates features such as decorative precast panels, ribbed steel cladding, and a portal steel structure that allows flexible open plan use. The hall is finished with a bamboo sprung floor, making it suitable for a range of sporting activities.
To address local ground conditions, the building was constructed on a 1.2-metre gravel raft with a concrete slab foundation, providing resilience in a high seismic environment.
As the first new community facility built in Christchurch’s eastern suburbs after the 2010–11 earthquakes, the centre became a flagship project in the city’s rebuild programme. With support from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust and other donors, it was delivered as a symbol of renewal for the local community.
Since opening, the centre has operated as a civic hub for sports, cultural, educational, and community events. Its successful delivery was recognised nationally, and it received the Public Sector Project of the Year Award at the New Zealand Project Management Awards in 2016.
Photo Source: Christchurch City Council
Services provided
We provided full Quantity Surveying services from inception through to completion, including:
- Estimating at Preliminary, Developed and Detailed Design Stage
- Cost planning and value management through design
- Preparation of the Schedule of Quantities
- Priced attributes tender evaluation and recommendation based on price
- Post contract cost control and monthly financial reporting
- Assessment of the main contractor’s payment claims and preparation of payment recommendations
- Assessment and negotiation of main contractor variation claims
- Final account negotiation and agreement
Challenges
The Aranui Community Centre was delivered at a time when Christchurch’s construction market was under extreme pressure, with hundreds of rebuild projects competing for labour and materials after the earthquakes. Securing contractors and achieving value for money in this environment was a challenge, particularly for a publicly funded project with a fixed budget.
Ground conditions on the site required a resilient solution to mitigate future seismic risk. The adoption of a gravel raft and slab foundation added complexity. Whilst the material is essential to address seismic ground conditions, it introduced added cost and programme pressures due to the large volumes of engineered gravel, the need for compaction and testing, and the additional concrete required for the slab. These elements required close monitoring of costs as design solutions were refined.
The project also needed to comply with the requirements of multiple funding bodies, including the Christchurch City Council and the Earthquake Appeal Trust. This introduced a high level of governance and accountability, with detailed financial reporting and variation assessments required throughout the build.
Replacing two damaged community facilities meant the new centre had to accommodate a broad range of uses — from sports and cultural events to social services and community functions. This range of requirements created scope pressure during design development, requiring careful balancing of needs within a constrained budget.
Successes and value added
WT’s involvement throughout both pre- and post-contract stages gave the client certainty at each step of the project. Early estimating and cost planning established a clear financial framework, while our tender evaluation and procurement advice ensured the client received competitive pricing in a challenging market. During construction, our monitoring, reporting, and assessment of contractor claims provided ongoing transparency and control.
The result was a facility delivered to a high standard of resilience and functionality, $200,000 under the original business case construction budget and $600,000 under the overall project budget. Achieving this outcome in a rebuild market marked by cost escalation highlighted the strength of our cost management processes and our ability to work collaboratively with both consultants and contractors.
The new centre has since been recognised with the 2016 Public Sector Project of the Year Award, demonstrating the quality of the outcome. It also provides the community with a modern, multi-purpose facility that meets a wide range of needs within a financially disciplined delivery.
Awards
- Public Sector Project of the Year Award at the New Zealand Project Management Awards in 2016
