Horncastle Arena

"Westpac Centre" redirects here. For the Melbourne-based sports centre, see Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Horncastle Arena
The Woolshed, The Horseshoe
Former names WestpacTrust Centre (1998–2007)
Westpac Arena (2007–10)
CBS Canterbury Arena (2012–14) Horncastle Arena (2014–present)
Location 55 Jack Hinton Drive
Addington, Christchurch
Canterbury, New Zealand
Coordinates 43°32′45″S 172°36′4″E / 43.54583°S 172.60111°E / -43.54583; 172.60111Coordinates: 43°32′45″S 172°36′4″E / 43.54583°S 172.60111°E / -43.54583; 172.60111
Owner Vbase
Operator Vbase
Capacity Netball: 7,200
Concerts: 8,888
Construction
Opened 1998
General contractor Charles Luney
Tenants
1999 Netball World Championships
Mainland Tactix (ANZ Championship) (2008–present)

Horncastle Arena is a New Zealand sporting and entertainment arena located in the Christchurch suburb of Addington. It has gone through a series of name changes and was most recently known as the CBS Canterbury Arena.

Description

The arena is New Zealand's second-largest indoor arena with a maximum capacity of 8,888 (depending on event type), it was the largest until the construction of Auckland's Vector Arena in 2007. The indoor stadium is capable of hosting concerts, exhibitions and various sporting events. Provision for international sport and traditional indoor arena events has been integrated into the design requirements.

It has over 6,700 seats for sporting fixtures or, in the concert configuration, the seating can increase to over 7,000.

The Sports and Entertainment complex is located adjacent to Addington Raceway and Rugby League Park in South West Christchurch surrounded by 3,000 car parking spaces. The complex is only 10 minutes from the city centre.

It has been affectionately dubbed 'The Woolshed' by Canterbury Rams basketball fans. Some Christchurch citizens colloquially refer to the arena as the horseshoe, due to its unusual architectural exterior design.

Horncastle Homes currently holds the naming rights to the stadium.

History

Charles Luney was the builder for the stadium.[1] The arena opened in September 1998 at a cost of NZ$32 Million. In the first ever sporting match at CBS Canterbury Arena, the Canterbury Rams basketball team suffered a close loss to the Wellington Saints 86–81 in April 1999.

It was built for two main reasons: primarily for the 1999 Netball World Cup in Christchurch, and also because Christchurch was missing out on many concerts and other attractions, because it did not have a suitable indoor arena in the city.

Current tenants

Events

Concerts

Sporting

Since its opening, it has been host to a number of different sporting events. These Include home matches for the Canterbury Rams (basketball) and Mainland Tactix (netball) teams. It occasionally hosts international basketball and netball fixtures featuring the Tall Blacks and Silver Ferns respectively. It was also the host of the 1999 Netball World Championships.

It has also been host to a lot of non-regular sporting events. These include various celebrity tennis matches, ice shows, disabled games, karate championships and gymnastics competitions.

Other uses

The arena plays a key role in the Christchurch economy hosting annual trade shows including the Christchurch Home Show, Women's Lifestyle Expo, The Christchurch Boat Show, and the South Island gift Fare.

The Horncastle Arena is managed by the same company that manages the Christchurch Convention Centre and plays an important part of hosting major conferences in cooperation with the convention centre. The combined facilities regularly host a variety of different conferences for up to 2500 people. It has been a frequent host for the New Zealand annual Tourism conference known as T.R.E.N.Z..

In 1999 and 2010, the arena was used to stage the Disney on Ice production. In June 2008 the Horncastle Arena was host to Disney's High School Musical on Ice tour, the second time that ice has been used on the arena floor.

The venue is also used for big gala dinners, lunches, balls, and cocktail parties.

Name change

On 18 June 2010, Westpac Arena was officially renamed CBS Canterbury Arena.[3]

On 23 July 2014, CBS Canterbury Arena was officially renamed Horncastle Arena.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Charles Seymour Luney (Chas), QSO, CNZM 1905 – 2006". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Basketball returns home to Cowles", Christchurch City Council, Media Release 29 September 2007.
  3. ↑ Heather, Ben (19 June 2010). "CBS takes venue naming rights". The Press. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  4. ↑ Meier, Cecile (24 July 2014). "Arena sponsor 'here for the long haul'". The Press. Retrieved 19 October 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CBS Canterbury Arena.
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