CHCH REBUILD | News

[SYDNEY]

Hotel operator commits to CBD projects

A multimillion-dollar project to repair the 178-room 5-star Millennium Hotel Christchurch in Cathedral Square has begun in earnest and will take 18 months, the hotel operator says. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ operator also committed to other hotel projects in the quake-damaged central city, managing director BK Chiu said. He has welcomed the release of the Christchurch Central Development Unit's (CCDU) recovery plan, saying the economic activity it will stimulate is the way to bring confidence back into the damaged heart of Canterbury. The hotel owner and operator would work to re-establish its presence. The company was interested in joining the public-private partnership proposed to set up a large convention centre and two new hotels.

“The two proposed hotel sites adjacent to the proposed convention centre are of interest to Millennium & Copthorne. We will be working with Cera as they commence the rebuild of the CBD in earnest.” While the future of the Copthorne Hotel Christchurch Central, located on Victoria Square, remained undecided with talks continuing with insurers, there were a number of possible options for the site, Chiu said. The CCDU had proposed that a performing arts precinct would be built on and around the area now occupied by the Copthorne Central and other buildings. There was a question mark around the precinct site location, which would depend on what happened to the Town Hall. Chiu said that if the precinct did go ahead as indicated then the existing hotel would be demolished anyway as the building would not be suitable to be part of a performing arts precinct at the site which would be acquired by the Government.

[TonyNZ]

I hope they end up deciding to demolish the copthorne hotel on victoria square, its such an ugly building and doesnt compliment the square at all. The millenium hotel cold do with a nice modern touch to the exterior, looking very outdated, good news overall

[MattTheTubaGuy]

Originally Posted by TonyNZ

I hope they end up deciding to demolish the copthorne hotel on victoria square, its such an ugly building and doesnt compliment the square at all. The millenium hotel cold do with a nice modern touch to the exterior, looking very outdated, good news overall

you mean the one next to the PWC which is currently coming down?
I heard somewhere that it is indeed coming down.
I really hope we do get a couple of new large hotels. they better look decent though!
Just a random thought: if a new cathedral is built, and it has a spire, I think it should be placed so that the spire lines up with Colombo Street.

[jarden]

The Copthorne hotel is on Colombo st over looking Victoria sq it was next to the VIC and Whale pub that has now gone and not next to the PWC the 10 level BNZ the white building on armagh st is 'next door' to the PWC. I not sure if that one is staying.

[Milan Luka]

While the Copthorne Colombo wasn't the best looking building they did a good job of sexying it up a couple of years ago. In summer there were fantastic views from the 2nd floor Italian restaurant overlooking the hotties sunning themselves in the Square below. I believe it is coming down.

It's in what will be the Arts Precinct so unlikely that a replacement hotel will be built on that exact site. Im sure the council will offer a good land swap for them- and don't forget they might have to use pre-existing heights to sweeten the bargain.

One thing that is a given is that the hospitality industry will be allowed to build midrises again. So stop fretting people, there will be a few 10-20 story buildings going up int he next decade- just in a tight little cluster at a location still to be confirmed.

My money is still by Latimer Square, excellent outlook over the Frame, close to the stadium. I'm getting a semi thinking about it all now...

[Indictable]

Yes I do hope this initial 29m height limit is lifted quite quickly, its just the mentality and I don't get it... two buildings collapse? Lets make the new height limit the same... They weren't tall people.. We have to make up for our lost 20s+

[Paulsy]

They have 4 years (not sure from when) to rebuild to the same height on any of those sites. My bet - none will do so - at least not to anywhere near the same height. It will take longer than 4 years for confidence to return and demand to come up and by then the window will be closed (perhaps to reopen again later). More likely business will continue to go to suburban office parks. Worrying to see FB tower gone in many of those new renderings.

[SYDNEY]

KIPT scans city blueprint for possible investments

Kiwi Income Property Trust says it is too early to say whether it will invest in the Christchurch rebuild. But it is sizing up the blueprint for the central city and looking for opportunities. KIPT's existing assets in Christchurch include Northlands Shopping Centre and the damaged PricewaterhouseCoopers Centre in Armagh St in Christchurch. The demolition of the PwC building should be finished by November. Yesterday after the trust had held its annual meeting, board members, some from Australia, went to Northlands to look at the centre under repair. They also planned to discuss the blueprint made public by the Christchurch Central Development Unit, said Chris Gudgeon, chief executive of trust manager Kiwi Income Properties Ltd. Chairman Mark Ford said the PricewaterhouseCoopers Centre had been a high-yielding property and its disappearance from the portfolio would have a "slightly negative impact on income going forward". Asked by a unitholder if KIPT intended to take part in the Christchurch rebuild, Ford said it was too early to say because the blueprint had only recently been made public. "I think it's fair to say we're open to looking at opportunities.

The first thing we're looking at is not necessarily the location but the economics of an opportunity . . . "So there's no yes or no answer other than we have an open mind." Ford said the trust continued to own the parcel of land under the PwC Centre, but under the blueprint, the site, worth about $4.3 million, was not ideally placed for the sort of asset suited to KIPT's investment strategy. "It's probably more suited to something in the entertainment or hotel precinct, which is not a business we'll be in, but our team are already looking through that blueprint so we have an open mind." Gudgeon said one option was to sell the land, which was next to, but not part of, a proposed performing arts precinct. KIPT had engaged in preliminary discussions with CCDU about the performing arts precinct but Gudgeon noted that the location of the precinct was still to be confirmed. The trust was on track with its 15-month reconstruction of an area affecting 14 shops at Northlands - equivalent to about 5 per cent of the centre's rentable area - at a cost of $9m. "We think it's likely that further strengthening works will be required," he said. Sales at Northlands in the year to March were up 22.2 per cent on the previous financial year.

[SYDNEY]

Business committed to Christchurch

The businesses and people integral to the future of Christchurch are confident about the economic recovery of the country's second largest city. That's according to Invest Christchurch which has released the findings of surveys on the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan and the wider region's future. They show that local businesspeople and investors are more confident than the wider population about Christchurch's prospects with many planning to stay in the area, more wanting to open businesses in the central city and the younger population being committed to the region. That should please Invest Christchurch - the investment facilitation arm of the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) - which commissioned the surveys to get information to reassure potential investors about aggregated investment intentions for Christchurch as well as the likely stability of the city's workforce and consumer base. "Investors - whether existing Christchurch landowners, other New Zealand investors, businesses and developers, or international investors - can have confidence that the people who know Christchurch best are bullish about its future, are united behind the central city blueprint and plan to remain in the region to be part of that exciting future," Sheila McBroom-Kerr, manager of Invest Christchurch, said "Our businesses, young people and wider community plan to stay, they are united behind the blueprint plan, and they overwhelmingly think it is a good time to invest in Christchurch," she said.

The surveys claim:

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74% of Christchurch businesspeople, 56% of Christchurch residents and 52% of New Zealanders support the city plan.

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7% of Christchurch businesspeople, 13% of Christchurch residents and 17% of New Zealanders oppose it.

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78% of Christchurch businesspeople and 61% of Christchurch residents believe things in Christchurch are heading in the right direction, higher than the benchmark of 51% of New Zealanders who think things in New Zealand are heading in the right direction.

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73% of Christchurch businesspeople, 61% of Christchurch residents and 50% of New Zealanders believe it is a good time to invest in the city.

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Among people under 30, 77% of Christchurch residents plan to continue living in the region over the next few years, slightly above the national benchmark of 74%.

Invest Christchurch also said more than 20% of Christchurch businesspeople want to locate their businesses in the new Central Business District - higher than the estimated 17% of Christchurch businesses that were in the CBD before the earthquake. In the professional, scientific and technical services sector, 44% want to locate in the new CBD. The surveys were conducted between July 31 and August 6 and have margins of error between 3.6-4.9 per cent.

[metroman]

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/christc...plan-ck-125609

[voyager8907]

Originally Posted by Paulsy

Worrying to see FB tower gone in many of those new renderings.

Yes it is.
They haven't announced anything new about it yet though so fingers crossed.

[KaneD]

Originally Posted by voyager8907

Yes it is.
They haven't announced anything new about it yet though so fingers crossed.

Forsyth Barr Tower is NOT being demolished at this stage. There are project managers already assigned to repair and refurbish the building so there is at this stage, no intention to demolish it. The only thing that would alter this outcome is if during repair and refurbishment, additional damage is found that makes the building uneconomic to repair.

The FB building does not appear to be inside the green belt around the new CBD so presumably, this building will stay. Note that the governmnet won't want to have to buy up expensive buildings just so they can flatten them, I would say that if the govt really wanted that site of the FB building, they would try any reuse the building by fitting it into the precinct that it is in (eg: being close to the convention centre it could become part of a hotel.)

[metroman]

That would be massive if it was to stay.

[SYDNEY]

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild shattered city

BNZ doing its bit for Christchurch

Rebuilding Christchurch can be a catalyst for the future

[SYDNEY]

Christchurch building consents reach $1 bln in first half

The value of building consents approved in Canterbury reached $1 billion dollars, quickly approaching the $1.2 billion consented for all of last year, says Statistics New Zealand. Some $404 million was for non-residential building work and rest was for home building. "Residential building consents have seen some large rises in the number of new dwellings authorised in Canterbury in the most recent months," the government department said in a statement. "These rises have mainly been in the districts adjacent to Christchurch city (Waimakariri and Selwyn)." Rebuild activity is largely funded by insurance claims. New Zealand insurance companies have made a total $15.7 billion of claims on overseas reinsurers for all the Canterbury earthquakes, according to Statistics New Zealand. At the end of March about a quarter of these claims had been settled with overseas reinsurers and some $11.9 billion worth of claims remained outstanding. The construction sector is one of the few industries set to benefit from Christchurch's earthquake distribution, with the accommodation, food and retail sectors yet to recover. Hotel capacity remains down by about 50 percent, with many located in the central business district. Retail trade fell to a lesser extent post-earthquakes and has been able to quickly recover, currently surpassing pre-earthquake levels.

[Indictable]

I took a wee walk around a few blocks this evening, taking a few snaps before my phone died. And excuse the quality, it was from my phone.

Firstly, the Hotel Ibis is expected to reopen on 4/9... I find that date just a tiny bit ironic.

image hosted on flickr


And this will be what the first guests at the hotel will be greeted by when they walk outside. i remember how that corner used to be so.. vibrant.. full of life.. now.. woah..

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Site being prepped near the corner of Durham South and Gloucester. Thankfully, this used to be a carpark!

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


Another site on Victoria Street starting to go!

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[SYDNEY]

Partnership for Christchurch Coastal Pathway Project

Work on a master plan and feasibility study for the proposed six-kilometre Christchurch Coastal Pathway is about to get underway thanks to a just announced Christchurch City Council and Christchurch Coastal Pathway Group (CPG) community partnership. Mayor Bob Parker says, “Council in seeking an appropriate way to support this project has undertaken to provide initial funding and project management. The project budget for this stage is $50,000 which has already been allocated for this purpose in the Annual Plan. “A desire to see a recreational asset that speaks to the spirit of Christchurch come to fruition and to ensure CPG can meet funding application deadlines meant the project planning had to get underway now. These applications could net a third of the eventual project costs. “The pathway will cater for children, pedestrians, cyclists, skateboarders and people using scooters and wheelchairs and is planned to connect Ferrymead to Mt Pleasant and on through Redcliffs, finishing at the end of Scarborough Beach in Sumner”, says Mr Parker.

Hagley/Ferrymead Community Board Chairperson Bob Todd welcomed news of the partnership announcement and says, “this project has wide community support and has been identified by the Board as its priority capital project because of its significance to the community and to recovery in the area, and I congratulate Council and the Pathways Group on their initiative.” The project will not be dissimilar to the New Plymouth, Napier, and Wellington pathways which stretch along their coastal edges. The award winning six-kilometre pathway in New Plymouth averages over 40,000 users a month. “It is most heartening following the unprecedented level of public support across the Port Hills and Christchurch communities with over 1,400 locals lodging submissions to Council we now have this community partnership in place,” say Mel Slemint and Michael Sleigh, Committee Members for the Pathway Group.

“We are sure the Christchurch Coastal Pathway will make the most of our dramatic and varied coastline, making it accessible to locals and visitors, protecting and enhancing the habitat for wildlife and connecting the earthquake-damaged communities along its route.” The Council, working with the CPG, will commission award-winning landscape architects Wraight Associates, who will lead a multi-disciplinary team to undertake the first stage of the design and master plan work. This will include outlining how future construction could be integrated with SCIRT repair works to the area and how to minimise both costs and disturbance. Extensive consultation with the wider community and stakeholders including Ngai Tahu, the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, the Christchurch Estuary Association, the local yacht clubs and residents will be undertaken. The first formal consultation meetings will start in late September and be followed by further meetings in October.

For more information contact: www.christchurchcoastalpathway.org.nz

[Rooty]

I can't wait. Sumner waterfront east of Cave Rock is long overdue for landscaping and repaving. It's really haggard in places.

[SYDNEY]

Meet 'the best small city in the world'

The Canterbury earthquakes disaster has given Christchurch an opportunity to rise as "the best small city in the world", earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee said this morning. Giving a State of the Recovery address at a refurbished central city Ibis Hotel, due to reopen next week, Mr Brownlee said the city's $30 billion rebuild was on track, despite the adversity the city has faced. He said the central city red zone cordon - an initial area of 387 hectares after last February's killer quake - has shrunk to just 49 hectares today. It should be "fully open" by the middle of next year, he said. "Out of the tragedy comes the opportunity to create the best small city in the world, and there are extraordinary opportunities for anyone who wants to be part of it," he told the large breakfast gathering. Mr Brownlee said the rebuild is gaining momentum, with nearly $1 billion worth of building consents approved in Canterbury in the first half of 2012. "The residential rebuild is about restoring our lives and the places we live. How and where we work, has also been changed.

In the CBD and suburbs, 1600 buildings needed to be partially or completely demolished. Already, over 80 per cent of that job is done. That process has meant that we are not stuck with a dangerous dead zone at the heart of our city." In the aftermath of the disaster, the Government passed the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011 to streamline reconstruction. Cera was set up "restore confidence", and for householders with broken or destroyed homes, rebuilding their homes has been a "key priority". "It has been a big task, but we have now re-zoned almost 190,000 throughout the city and in the CBD. It is an extraordinary achievement," Mr Brownlee said. "The zoning has restored confidence that we can rebuild Christchurch and restore our homes and neighbourhoods with some comfort, and know that if we had a similar quake in the future, it would not cause the same level of devastation." He accepted it "wasn't a smart idea" to have built many neighbourhoods and suburbs on land which is now unfit for further residential occupation. A total of 7779 properties have been red-zoned, leading to the Government paying homeowners out more than $915 million to date.

"It has been a tremendous success," Mr Brownlee said. Latest GNS predictions say seismic activity is abating, and Mr Brownlee cited their long-term forecast that in the coming month the probability of a 5.5 to 5.9 shake has declined to 4 per cent. The easing earthquake sequence has allowed more confidence from insurers and reinsurers, and is helping to drive the rebuild, he said. Mr Browlee said New Zealand has "something of a record of doing things a bit half-arsed", citing Auckland's harbour bridge which was a short-sighted construction when opened in 1959, and Wellington's Parliament building which "wins awards for being ugly". "I am determined that this is not how we are going to recreate Christchurch," he said. "The policy has to be that everything we decide to do in Christchurch is going to be the best. "What's more, we need to do it quickly and - to use the jargon - it must be future-proofed. And will benefit New Zealand as a whole. We have the opportunity to now make it happen."

[SYDNEY]

Entire CBD to open by mid-2013

Christchurch has the chance to become the best small city in the world, says Gerry Brownlee, as the second anniversary of the first earthquake approaches. Canterbury earthquake recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee this morning given a State of the Recovery address at the inner-city Ibis Hotel, which is due to re-open next Tuesday. The opening of the inner city hotel was another stage in the return of the CBD, which Brownlee said would be fully reopened by the middle of next year. He said it was hoped the Defence Force, which had been guarding the inner city cordon, would not be needed beyond the end of this year. He said people across New Zealand had helped the city start to get back on its feet but paid special tribute to Cantabrians. ''We can all be proud of what we have achieved to recover from this adversity. Everyone has had to make sacrifices, to do things differently and to cope with the strain that these events have caused. The shared experience since then has come to define the lives of this generation of Cantabrians.''

The challenge, Brownlee said, was that in five years' time, the event that defined the lives of this generation would not be the earthquakes, but being part of the re-creation of a new Christchurch. ''Out of the tragedy comes the opportunity to create the best small city in the world, and there are extraordinary opportunities for anyone who wants to be part of it.'' After the February 2011 earthquake, Brownlee said it was clear a ''timely, focused and expedited recovery process'' was needed. The Government passed the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011 to help remove barriers to reconstruction. The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) was set up to get quick action on urgent priorities and coordinate the recovery efforts of local authorities, businesses and the wider community. ''It has been a big task, but we have now re-zoned almost 190,000 throughout the city and in the CBD. It is an extraordinary achievement. This process has been difficult, requiring the careful consideration of the capacity of the land to be safely rebuilt on.''

''The zoning has restored confidence that we can rebuild Christchurch and restore our homes and neighbourhoods with some comfort, and know that if we had a similar quake in the future, it would not cause the same level of devastation.'' But he said a real city should not feel like a business park. ''The (central city) blueprint is designed to be a place that people will want to live in. It must have the social and cultural fabric that people enjoy being part of.'' Brownlee said the city needed to act quickly to achieve the vision. ''Our city's children who are five today, were barely three in February 2011 and they will not have full access to their central city until they are perhaps 10. "One important part of the Frame - in the north-east - will be the new children's playground. We will build them a playground from where they can view the rebirth of their city, through their childhood years. It will be the best playground in the world. Not a fun park, but a playground. ''Our goal should be that within a decade, Christchurch is clearly recognised as the best small city in the world in which to bring up kids, open a business, go to an art gallery, study at university, watch the All Blacks, make money, create jobs, build a home.''

He also wanted to see the city not miss out again on a major sporting event. Last year, Christchurch could not host part of the Rugby World Cup 2011. ''In the home of the Crusaders we missed out on what will be remembered as the biggest cultural and sporting event that New Zealand has ever held. In 2015, New Zealand will host part of the Cricket World Cup. The people of Christchurch can't miss out again. We need to all go into bat for Christchurch and ensure that not only do we take part - we take a leading role in that event.'' ''If we can't make something extraordinary about the newly recreated Christchurch off the back of such opportunities and such overwhelming public, political and business support, there is something wrong with us. And we've proven this last two years there is nothing wrong with us. We have proven we are among the best and most resilient people in the world, and we can do things fast.'' Brownlee summarised progress to date.

OUR LAND

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58 quakes in excess of magniture-5. But GNS predicts the probability of a 5.5 to 5.9 shake has fallen to 32 per cent in the next year

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190,000 properties rezoned

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7779 properties zoned Red, with the Crown offers costing more than $915 million to date.

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three-quarters, or 5834, have signed a sale and purchase agreement and nearly 60 per cent, or 4545, have already settled

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The EQC has received about 415,000 building claims and 93,000 land claims. It has paid out in excess of $3.3 billion

MOMENTUM

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80 per cent of the 1600 condemned buildings in the CBD have been partly or completely demolished

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the red zone cordon has reduced from 387 hectares to 49ha.

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aim to have the city fully open by the middle of 2013

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aim to get the New Zealand Defence Force off the cordon by the end of this year

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Nearly $1 billion worth of building consents approved in Canterbury in the first half of 2012, while the amount of ready mixed concrete produced in the Christchurch metropolitan area has more than doubled since March 2011