27 Oct 2015

Convention centre won't cause traffic chaos - Fletcher head

8:45 pm on 27 October 2015

The head of Fletcher Construction is promising there will be no traffic chaos while the Auckland Convention Centre is being built.

An artist's impression of the scaled down design agreed for Auckland's SkyCity convention centre.

An artist's impression of the scaled down design agreed for Auckland's SkyCity convention centre. Photo: SUPPLIED

Fletcher and SkyCity announced a half-billion dollar contract today to build the controversial centre, along with a 5-star hotel and a 1300 space underground carpark.

The work is expected to begin by Christmas and take just over three years to complete.

Fletcher chief executive Graham Darlow said traffic disruption would be minimal, despite the scale of the project and its location on a major city block.

"Most of the deliveries that we have to the project are off the street, so we're not going to be blocking off lanes or any part of the roadway to unload trucks and those sorts of things onto the site. And that's the important part of traffic management - to ensure there is minimum disruption to the surrounding roads."

Mr Darlow said Fletcher Construction was recruiting workers from Britain to help make up the workforce for the project.

He said workers on other projects will be re-deployed to help with construction but the company is also looking elsewhere.