Officially opened in March 2026, the fully covered stadium is a major addition to Christchurch and one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken by Christchurch City Council. The $683 million project provides 25,000 permanent seats, capacity for 30,000 spectators for major sporting events and up to 37,000 for concerts.
For Safety Nets NZ, the project provided an opportunity to demonstrate how engineered netting can provide much more than conventional fall protection.
Working at up to 48 metres above ground
Construction of the stadium roof presented an obvious challenge.
The roof trusses are approximately
32 metres above ground at their lowest point, with roof construction taking place at heights of up to approximately 48 metres.
Traditional access to work areas at these heights can require extensive scaffolding, large Elevated Work Platforms (EWPs), or other temporary access systems. On a structure of this scale, those solutions can be costly, time-consuming and can significantly restrict access and movement at ground level.
Safety Nets NZ supplied and installed an
engineered walk-on netting system at roof level, providing an alternative means of access and protection during the roof installation works.
Creating a working platform in the air
Unlike a conventional safety net designed primarily to arrest a fall, the walk-on system creates a tensioned netted working area beneath the roof structure.
This enabled workers to access areas of the roof installation from the netting system rather than relying solely on large EWPs or extensive temporary scaffold erected from ground level.
The result was a system that assisted the construction team by:
- Providing a high-level working and access platform immediately beneath the roof works
- Reducing reliance on large EWPs and extensive scaffold
- Allowing greater freedom of movement across large areas of the roof
- Keeping more of the stadium floor available for other construction activities
- Reducing congestion associated with ground-based access equipment
- Providing collective fall protection across the work area
- Allowing work to progress efficiently across a very large and complex roof structure
Engineered netting for complex construction
The scale of the Te Kaha roof demonstrates the potential of engineered netting systems on major construction projects.
The stadium roof itself comprises more than
80 large steel modules, each weighing at least 75 tonnes, together with a lightweight transparent ETFE roof covering. Almost 4,000 people worked on the overall project during its three-year construction period.
On projects of this size, access methodology can have a significant impact on programme, cost, safety and the ability of multiple trades to operate simultaneously.
Rather than treating safety netting simply as a secondary fall-arrest measure, incorporating an engineered walk-on netting system into the construction methodology can provide both
fall protection and practical high-level access.
Safety and productivity working together
One of the most impressive aspects of the Te Kaha project was its overall safety performance.
WorkSafe reported that the stadium was completed without a major-harm incident during its three-year construction period, despite approximately 400 people working on site at peak periods and significant high-risk activities being undertaken – including installation of the roof structure at heights of up to 48 metres.
For Safety Nets NZ, projects such as One New Zealand Stadium demonstrate an important principle:
the right safety system can also be a more efficient construction solution.
By designing safety and access into the construction methodology from the outset, engineered walk-on netting can reduce the amount of temporary plant and equipment required, improve access to difficult work areas and help other trades work more efficiently.
More than safety nets
With more than 30,000 projects completed throughout New Zealand, Safety Nets NZ continues to develop engineered netting solutions for increasingly complex applications.
From conventional fall-arrest systems through to multi-layer protection and specialist walk-on systems, our objective is to work with contractors, designers and project teams to develop a netting solution appropriate to the particular construction challenge.
One New Zealand Stadium at Te Kaha is a great example of what can be achieved when engineered netting is considered as part of the construction methodology – not simply as a fall-arrest system.
For major roof structures, warehouses, stadiums and other large-span buildings, a walk-on netting system can provide a practical alternative to extensive scaffold and ground-based access equipment, particularly where height, floor access and programme are critical considerations.
