The man overseeing construction of the Christchurch stadium doesn’t believe the collapse of Australian owned mechanics company will affect the project.

Benmax which was contracted to deliver the mechanical services for the Metro Sports Facility and the Christchurch stadium, folded its New Zealand operations on Thursday last week.

The news has raised further concerns about ongoing delays, particularly for the Metro Sports facility.

Paul Lonesdale from the Central City Business Association said “we are very disappointed to hear this news given the raft of other delays this project has incurred.

Let’s hope there’s another mechanical service provider who has the capacity to pick this up quickly and hope that it does not negatively impact Te Kaha’s current delivery schedule.”

Christchurch property developer Antony Gough said “it was a real shame that we are to lose such an important consultant for this project.

This will mean that this project will be further delayed. I suspect the the multipurpose arena will be finished before this Metro Sports building is open.”

Te Kaha Project Delivery Chief Executive, David Kennedy said the Council contracted BESIX Watpac to design and construct Te Kaha, and BESIX Watpac had employed Benmax to deliver Te Kaha’s mechanical services.

“We are aware that the New Zealand arm of Benmax has gone into liquidation.

Kennedy wouldn’t comment on possible delays but said “this sub-contractor had begun some detailed design work, the delivery of this work on-site was not scheduled to begin for at least six months, and BESIX Watpac believes the works can be delivered without impacting the opening date.”

According to documents on the Government’s Companies Office website, the Benmax NZ limited was placed into liquidation on Thursday.

The liquidator was Brenton Hutt from Insolvency Matters.

His first report on the financial status of the company was due on the 17th April.

Commenting on the Sports Metro project, an Ōtākaro Limited spokesman said last week “it is reasonable to expect this will disrupt the construction programme and we are awaiting a further update from CPB on the likely impact that we can then share with stakeholders” the spokesman said.

“Why the company has gone into liquidation is not a matter Ōtakaro can speculate on.”