Things are starting to take shape at Claudelands, with the concrete framework for the facility's new indoor arena currently going up and the large roof steel due to be installed early in the new year.

Council Event Facilities Manager Mark Christie said while the arena isn't due for completion until the second half of 2011, the method of construction means that the scale of the building will become visible early on.

"In the new year the public will be able to get a strong feel for the size and capacity of the arena, which will stand approximately 22.5 meters high and boast a footprint of around 6,600 square meters," he said.

Work has also begun on the exhibition hall components of the development, with two 2,000 square metre exhibition halls due to be completed by March next year. The NZ Motorhome and Caravan Show on 11-14 March 2010 will be first event to utilise these new halls, while a 3,000 sqm exhibition plaza will also be completed around this time.

Meanwhile construction of the venue's new conference facilities will begin early in the new year.

Currently soil that has been excavated to make way for the arena's foundations is being shaped into an earth bund at the north-western corner of the oval, adjacent to Heaphy Terrace. A component of the venue's Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) features, the bund enables the soil to be reused on site, rather than having to be transported off site - therefore lessening the development's environmental impact and minimising transportation and dumping costs.