The jury's still out on whether changes at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority represent a winding back of the government's involvement in the rebuild of Christchurch or simply a shift in its focus.
Christchurch people who have had to battle insurance companies over the repair or rebuild of earthquake damaged homes are welcoming the Labour party's idea of an earthquake court to settle disputes.
A video of Prime Minister John Key taking part in a tree planting ceremony on the banks of the Avon River in Christchurch. The trees were planted to symbolise the beginning of the rebuild of the Christchurch central city.
What does leadership look like in a disaster? David compares Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's leadership this week with how Bob Parker and Lianne Dalziel coped with the Christchurch earthquakes and terror attacks. He looks at how current Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger's council is faring and whether reality meets the rhetoric and what's happened to the city's Metro Sports facility, one of the anchor projects in the rebuild.
A series of earthquakes has forced Christchurch to re-plan and rebuild. Discussions about rebuilding strategies have emphasized the intention of making it a city for the future, sustainable and vibrant. This paper discusses the relationship between microclimate and urban culture in Christchurch based upon the concept of urban comfort. It explores the relationships between environment, people and culture to help understand the local requirements for urban landscape design. In this paper we claim that cultural requirements also should be taken into account when looking for sustainable strategies. A distinctive feature of this research is its focus on the way people are adapting to both surviving prequake and new post‐quake environments. Preliminary findings from the first year of field work using participant observation and 61 in‐depth interviews with Christchurch residents are presented. The interviews were carried out in a variety of urban settings including: established sites (places sustaining relatively little damage) and emerging sites (those requiring rebuilding) during 2011‐2012. Evidence from the interviews highlight future challenges regarding sustainability and urban comfort issues. Post‐quake Christchurch presents a remarkable opportunity to design an urban landscape which provides environmental, economic, social and cultural sustainability. However, to achieve successful outcomes it is fundamental to respond to the local culture. Field data suggest that the strong connections between urban and rural settings present in local culture, lifestyle and landscape generate a particular aesthetic and recreation preference for urban spaces, which should be considered in the urban landscape design strategies.
Shows snarling rats labelled 'insurance companies' in a cityscape. Context: Concerns about shortfall in insurance cover have arisen in response to the Christchurch City Council's draft annual plan, which proposes a 7.5 per cent rates increase to fund earthquake rebuild (Stuff 23 April 2012). Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
The earthquake sequence has resulted in significant physical and reputational damage to the Canterbury tourism industry. Eighteen months after the earthquakes inbound tourism data is still below pre-earthquake levels, with Canterbury operators reporting that the industry has not bounced back to where it was before September 2010. Outcomes of the earthquakes on business performance highlight there were winners and losers in the aftermath. Recovery of inbound tourism markets is closely tied to the timeframe to rebuild the CBD of Christchurch. Reinstating critical tourism infrastructure will drive future tourism investment, and allow tourism businesses to regenerate and thrive into the future. A blueprint for rebuilding the CBD of Christchurch was released by the Christchurch City Council in July 2012, and has been well received by tourism stakeholders in the region. The challenge now is for city officials to fund the development projects outlined in the blueprint, and to rebuild the CBD as quickly as possible in order to help regenerate the tourism industry in Christchurch, Canterbury and the rest of the South Island
The three versions of this cartoon show words reading 'rumble' and 'crack' and refer to problems in relationships between the Christchurch City Council and the government about how to manage the rebuilding of Christchurch after the second most damaging earthquake that occured one year ago today (22 February 2011) Quantity: 3 digital cartoon(s).
Christchurch's Blessed Sacrament Cathedral was set to be repaired following the Canterbury earthquakes, but the new Bishop Paul Martin has decided it's too expensive and has decided to rebuild closer to the city centre.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister has been forced to concede he's received official advice on the Christchurch City Council selling some of its assets to help pay for rebuilding the city.
Canadian expert on the development of healthy communities in British Columbia is in New Zealand to explore possibilities for contributing to the rebuilding of a resilient Christchurch following the earthquake and aftershocks.
EQC said it would provide the Ross family with a cash settlement by February 20, almost seven years to the day since the Christchurch earthquake. Now it's commissioning another rebuild estimate.
On the third anniversary of the first major earthquake to hit Christchurch thousands of people with the most badly damaged homes are still wrangling with their insurance companies over rebuilds.
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.
Refers to the rebuilding of Christchurch after the earthquakes. Shown are a cardboard 'weetbix' box, a condom brothel that gives great protection, a pile of rolls of toilet paper, the 'popcorn hotel' expands in microwave, the 'Milo' building, soft but reinforced with iron', and the 'styrofoam chalice'. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cotterill family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. William and Simonetta Cotterill in their makeshift bedroom which used to the drawing room".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cotterill family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. William and Simonetta Cotterill in their makeshift bedroom which used to be the drawing room".
Documents obtained by Radio New Zealand show WorkSafe New Zealand was still grappling to get on top of asbestos dangers in the Christchurch rebuild nearly two years after the February 2011 earthquake.
“One of the most basic and fundamental questions in urban master planning and building regulations is ‘how to secure common access to sun, light and fresh air?” (Stromann-Andersen & Sattrup, 2011). Daylighting and natural ventilation can have significant benefits in office buildings. Both of these ‘passive’ strategies have been found to reduce artificial lighting and air-conditioning energy consumption by as much as 80% (Ministry for the Environment, 2008); (Brager, et al., 2007). Access to daylight and fresh air can also be credited with improved occupant comfort and health, which can lead to a reduction of employee absenteeism and an increase of productivity (Sustainability Victoria, 2008). In the rebuild of Christchurch central city, following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, Cantabrians have expressed a desire for a low-rise, sustainable city, with open spaces and high performance buildings (Christchurch City Council, 2011). With over 80% of the central city being demolished, a unique opportunity to readdress urban form and create a city that provides all buildings with access to daylight and fresh air exists. But a major barrier to wide-spread adoption of passive buildings in New Zealand is their dependence on void space to deliver daylight and fresh air – void space which could otherwise be valuable built floor space. Currently, urban planning regulations in Christchurch prioritize density, allowing and even encouraging low performance compact buildings. Considering this issue of density, this thesis aimed to determine which urban form and building design changes would have the greatest effect on building performance in Central City Christchurch. The research proposed and parametrically tested modifications of the current compact urban form model, as well as passive building design elements. Proposed changes were assessed in three areas: energy consumption, indoor comfort and density. Three computer programs were used: EnergyPlus was the primary tool, simulating energy consumption and thermal comfort. Radiance/Daysim was used to provide robust daylighting calculations and analysis. UrbaWind enabled detailed consideration of the urban wind environment for reliable natural ventilation predictions. Results found that, through a porous urban form and utilization of daylight and fresh air via simple windows, energy consumption could be reduced as much as 50% in buildings. With automatic modulation of windows and lighting, thermal and visual comfort could be maintained naturally for the majority of the occupied year. Separation of buildings by as little as 2m enabled significant energy improvements while having only minimal impact on individual property and city densities. Findings indicated that with minor alterations to current urban planning laws, all buildings could have common access to daylight and fresh air, enabling them to operate naturally, increasing energy efficiency and resilience.
A man who represents 'Chch citizens' struggles up a rough and rocky road carrying over his shoulder a huge load that represents 'a devastated city'. Three signposts ahead of him point to 'faith', 'hope' and 'charity'. Context - The struggle to rebuild the city of Christchurch after the earthquake of 22 February 2011. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Shows a patched wind up heart labelled 'ChCh Central' with several tubes attached. Context: On 18 April 2012 Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee annnounced the establishment of Christchurch Central Development Unit focussing on the rebuilding of the Christchurch Central Business District (CBD) (Scoop website 18 April 2012). Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September earthquake, but the Cotterill family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Master bedroom where a large brick chimney fell through the roof crushing the bed where William and Simonetta Cottrell had been sleeping moments before".
In half an hour, the first passenger train since the devastating Kaikoura earthquake will depart Picton for Christchurch. The 7.8 earthquake that struck the region in 2016 ripped up much of the scenic Coastal Pacific railway - sweeping kilometres of tracks out to sea and buried beneath slips. The rebuild of the railway line has taken two years and the efforts of nearly 1700 workers. Todd Moyle is KiwiRail's acting chief executive. He talks to Susie Ferguson.
A video of a presentation by Justin Kean, Director of Research and Consulting at JLL, at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The presentation is titled, "Factors Shaping the Industrial and Commercial Evolution of Greater Christchurch".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cotterill family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Builders repair the master bedroom where a large brick chimney came through the room narrowly missing the Cotterills and totally obliterating their bed".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cottrell family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Master bedroom where a large brick chimney fell through the roof crushing the bed where William and Simonetta Cottrell had been sleeping moments before".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Pete Davey from Ambrose Heal Furniture. Owner Pete Davey has had to demolish his building and work out of a house at the back. He's going to rebuild, and has put a cheeky sign up saying that he has 'survived the recession, Chinese imports, and the earthquake'".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cotterill family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Builders repair the master bedroom where a large brick chimney came through the room narrowly missing the Cotterills and totally obliterating their bed".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cottrell family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Master bedroom where a large brick chimney fell through the roof crushing the bed where William and Simonetta Cottrell had been sleeping moments before".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gunyah homestead was badly damaged during the September 4th 2010 earthquake, but the Cottrell family are picking up the pieces and rebuilding. Master bedroom where a large brick chimney fell through the roof crushing the bed where William and Simonetta Cottrell had been sleeping moments before".