The Earthquake Recovery Minister says the Christchurch City Council has wasted an opportunity in deciding to save the Town Hall, instead of building a new performing arts precinct.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister has given the Christchurch City Council until this morning to approve a development plan, or else he says he'll do it for them.
Christchurch City Council staff have been given the hurry up from councillors over the length of time it is taking to repair or replace earthquake-damaged council housing.
The Christchurch Mayor says the city council will meet with GNS scientists to get some answers about the current sequence of earthquakes, which have sparked anxiety among residents.
The Property Council says an ultimatum from the Christchurch City Council to owners of earthquake damaged commercial buildings will add to the stress business people are already under.
Plans for the reconstruction of earthquake damaged parts of Christchurch are slowly taking shape as priority is given to restoring fundamental services to residential areas of the city.
Instead of concentrating on the buildings destroyed in and after the earthquakes in Christchurch's CBD, a new event is enticing people back to explore the heritage buildings that have survived. A new organisation, Te Putahi, is behind the Open Christchurch programme that celebrates the city's surviving architecture, starting with inner-city schools throwing open their doors to the public. Architectural historian and co-founder of Te Putahi, Dr Jessica Halliday tells Lynn Freeman they hope to encourage discussion around well-designed spaces and their impacts on peoples' lives. Open Christchurch starts next Sunday with a tour of The Cathedral Grammar Junior School.
Sarah Johnston from Nga Taonga Sound & Vision was among over 8,000 people visiting the newly reopened Great Hall at the city's earthquake-damaged Arts Centre last weekend, and she's going to tell us about the connections between the Great Hall and some historic recordings in the sound archives.
As the nation prepares for lockdown, Christchurch's leaders says their city is prepared. Over the past ten years Christchurch has dealt with it's fair share of crisis, from earthquakes, Port Hills fires, the March 15 terror attacks, flooding, and a gas explosion. While Covid-19 has a global impact, some Cantabrians say their past experience will help them get through. Eleisha Foon reports.
Building plans signed off by the Christchurch City Council show one of its own structural engineers was involved in the design of a new multistorey building that is unstable. The eight-storey office building at 230 High Street is off-limits as it is too weak and might 'rupture' in an earthquake. But the council insists the planning documents are wrong and its engineer had only a minor role. Phil Pennington reports.
Scientists studying last month's earthquake in Christchurch say the shaking was exacerbated by a slapdown or trampoline effect that made the land under the city bounce up and down.
A payrise of nearly 70 thousand for the Christchurch City Council's chief executive has stunned people in the community, many of whom have been struggling financially since the earthquakes.
Construction delays and cost over-runs are prolonging the earthquake risks facing patients and staff at Christchurch hospital. Six major hospital buildings at the central city site have been listed as earthquake prone since May, but there is no safer space to shift patients into. Christchurch Hospital boss David Meates pron; Mates says the hospital is still basically a construction site. One earthquake prone building has roof tanks containing 75 tonnes of water. Mr Meates told RNZ reporter Phil Pennington removing the water from the tanks in the meantime is not an option.
A new office building in central Christchurch has multiple flaws in its earthquake design that the city council was warned about almost two years ago. Construction of the seven-storey building above the busy shopping precinct at 230 High Street, continued even after those warnings in December 2017. Three leading engineering firms have found critical faults - the latest are detailed in a Government-ordered report that's been leaked to RNZ. Phil Pennington joins Corin Dann with the details.
The Prime Minister, John Key, has just announced that a national memorial service to mark the Christchurch earthquake will be held in the city on Friday March the 18th.
Survivors of February's devastating earthquake in Christchurch are astounded the Royal Commission won't investigate whether anyone should be held liable for the collapse of so many central city buildings.
On the eve of the memorial service for the Christchurch earthquake, the Labour party is laying into the Government's handling of the city's ditching as a Rugby World Cup venue.
On October 23, 2010 Christchurch's Hagley Park hosted one of the biggest ever free concerts in New Zealand, following the first big earthquake to shake the city a month earlier.
A Christchurch businessman has told the Earthquake Royal Commission the city council was a nightmare to deal with when he was trying to strengthen his building before the September quake.
Business owners have told the Christchurch City Council they are haemorrhaging thousands of dollars a week, while it decides whether or not to demolish their buildings following last month's earthquake.
As Auckland and Northland brace for more atrocious weather, city leaders are calling for funding to repair the city's broken infrastructure to be along the lines of the help given to Christchurch after the quakes. Auckland deputy mayor Desley Simpson says that the damage so far is equivalent to the biggest non earthquake event the country has ever had and should be treated accordingly. The Opportunities Party says the "alliance" model established after the earthquakes, was effective and would work for Auckland's rebuild, because it provides a structure that the Central Government can fund directly. ToP leader Raf Manji was a Christchurch councillor after the quakes and closely involved in the rebuild. He tells Kathryn Ryan it is vital to ensure water and transport infrastructure is repaired quickly and efficiently, especially with a view to future extreme weather events - and there is much to learn from the post-quake rebuild.
Hundreds of Christchurch homeowners have discovered extensive damage to the on-sold properties they purchased after the 2010/2011 earthquakes. Licenced Building Practictioner Dan Paltridge talks to Logan Church about what people need to look out for, and what they need to do before buying a home in the city.
Days after Christchurch was devastated by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, Simon Morton traverses the city, using the Avon River as his route, and finds everyone has a story to tell.
Christchurch is home to many diverse ethnic groups whose voices have sometimes gone unheard in the aftermath of the earthquakes and the city's rebuild plans. Katy Gosset visits a gathering in Christchurch's battered eastern suburbs to hear their thoughts on post-quake life and the future of their adopted home.
Plumbers say EQC paying bills too slowly, Earthquake Commission defends its claim process, Events centre, not stimulus package, for West Coast, Harawira calls meeting to consider forming new party, Government, Auckland council split over development, Search work in Christchurch central city nears completion, Power in South Christchurch threatened by cut cable.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has backed off on his threats to the Christchurch City Council and one of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists is freed from a Russian detention centre.
The Labour Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel says the city council has made a terrible decision about how it organises help for earthquake victims and it needs to be changed urgently.
Christchurch will lose its Rugby World Cup games with a report finding the city's stadium is unfit to host matches in the wake of last month's earthquake, British media is reporting.
Auckland structural engineer John Scarry is concerned that the series of investigations into earthquake related collapses of Christchurch buildings won't result in the changes needed to make the city safer.
The Christchurch City Council's control of the earthquake recovery plan has been taken out of its hands, to the delight of business leaders, but to the chagrin of some local councilors.