Workers building the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin will barely have time to cut the Christmas ham before returning to the construction site.
Workers employed by the project's main contractor, Hawkins Construction, finished work on the project yesterday.
However, Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said some activity would continue at the site on all but statutory holidays during the Christmas period, and the pace of construction would pick up again on January 5.
"People will be working all the way through. I don't expect them to be there on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but the site's not closing down, other than for the statutory holidays.
"It's a very short time frame ... Every available day needs to be utilised.
"It was always anticipated that would be the situation at this stage, leading up to the completion time," he said.
However, Mr Farry stressed that did not mean there were concerns about meeting the August 1 completion date.
Workers needed to "keep their eye on the ball" to achieve the target date, but various stages of the stadium would be completed and commissioned well before August 1, he said.
Through the holiday period, workers would focus on preparing the playing surface to sow grass seed, as well as continuing the stadium's internal fit-out.
