University delighted with positive stadium decision

The University of Otago is delighted by the news that the stadium project is to go ahead.

Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg says international experience has shown that the most successful universities tend to be based in vibrant cities with strong economic activity, in areas of natural beauty and with effective and committed political leadership.

"The fact that the decision to proceed with this project was supported by such a large majority (12 to 2) of city councillors shows that the leaders of our community are determined that the future of Dunedin should be at least as illustrious as its past.

"At the University, we now need to get down to the hard work of planning our part of the complex in detail. It would have been premature to do this before the project had received the green light. We will be reviewing our Critical Space Plan, in order to decide which of our many needs for new accommodation can be met at the stadium complex. The University expects to spend well in excess of $30 million on this project.

"The University building on the west side of the stadium complex will open on to a plaza, and we hope that this will be an attractive "town-gown" area where people can meet, drink coffee and so on. In the longer term, we expect that this complex will be the first step in linking the University campus with the proposed harbour-side development."