
A copy of a letter from Empowered Christchurch to Peter Sparrow, Director of Building Control and Rebuild at the Christchurch City Council, sent on 23 October 2014. The letter is a response to another letter sent by Peter Sparrow to Empowered Christchurch regarding existing use rights and exemptions from a building consent. In this letter, Empowered Christchurch requests furthur clarification from the Christchurch Building Consent Authority about these concepts.
An old fashioned telephone box outside the Our City O-Tautahi building with heavy steel bracing in the background.
The Pink Pussy Cat Building formerly Lawrie & Wilson Auctioneers and used by the Parking Unit of Christchurch City Council.
The demolition site of St Elmo Courts at 47 Hereford Street. The City Council Building is now visible behind.
A view of the Worcester Street bridge from across the Avon River. In the background, the Our City O-Tautahi building is surrounded by scaffolding and bracing, the Rydges building behind.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the City Council Civic Offices on Manchester Street. Red stickers have been taped to the door, indicating that the building is unsafe to enter.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the City Council Civic Offices on Manchester Street. Red stickers have been taped to the door, indicating that the building is unsafe to enter.
Damage to the Provincial Council Buildings. The Stone Chamber has collapsed, and is behind cordon fencing. The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. Provincial Chambers, Durham St".
An exceedingly large 'Gerry' Brownlee, the Minister for Earthquake Recovery, rises from a chair, holding a briefcase labeled 'CERA' and calling for 'Bob' Parker, the mayor of Christchurch. The thin Parker was flattened against Brownlee's enormous rear, when Brownlee sat on the chair. Brownlee and Parker had a strained relationship, with the government taking an increasing amount of control in local decision making. After ongoing assurances by Parker that Christchurch City Council would meet all of International Accreditation New Zealand's requirements on issuing building consents, Brownlee announced in June 2013 without Parker's prior knowledge that the authority had withdrawn its accreditation. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
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.
People look through the cordon fence at the badly damaged Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings. The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. Provincial Chambers, Durham St".
People walk past the cordon fence beside the badly damaged Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings. The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. Provincial Chambers, Durham St".
People walk past the cordon fence beside the badly damaged Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings. The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. Provincial Chambers, Durham St".
A photograph of a Christchurch City Council building on Tuam Street. One of the windows on the bottom floor has shattered and there is glass on the footpath below.
A digitally manipulated image of the Lawrie and Wilson Auctioneers building on Tuam Street. The photographer comments, "This building at 210 Tuam Street is still off limits after the Christchurch earthquake. It has Lawrie and Wilson Auctioneers at the top and Christchurch City Council below. In the past it had a City Photography and at a different time a Parking Unit sign".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of Hereford Street, looking west from number 92".
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.
A crane with a wrecking ball demolishing St Elmo Courts on Hereford Street. Behind it is the Christchurch City Council Building.
A photograph of a sign on the door of the Christchurch City Council Building on Hereford Street. The sign reads, "EOC staff to use Worcester Street entrance".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "210 Tuam Street".
About two hundred of those who lost loved ones in collapsed buildings in Christchurch's 2011 earthquake, heard an apology from the city's mayor, Lianne Dalziel yesterday. A royal commission in to faulty buildings found serious errors by engineers and the Christchurch City Council 185 people died during the earthquake on the 22nd of February, 2011. David Selway who lost his sister Susan Selway in the CTV Building, said it was good to hear a heartfelt apology from the mayor for the role her council played in signing off the building as safe.
A video of an address by Alex Cutler, CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council, at the 2014 Seismics and the City forum. This talk was part of the Building Communities section and explored the extent to which the new city core will be a 'government-flavoured doughnut', the key issues with this concept, and the possible solutions.
In the late 1960s the Wellington City Council surveyed all the commercial buildings in the city and marked nearly 200 as earthquake prone. The owners were given 15 years to either strengthen or demolish their buildings. The end result was mass demolition throughout the seventies and eighties.¹ Prompted by the Christchurch earthquakes, once again the council has published a list of over 630 earthquake prone buildings that need to be strengthened or demolished by 2030.²Of these earthquake prone buildings, the majority were built between 1880 and 1930, with 125 buildings appearing on the Wellington City Council Heritage Building List.³ This list accounts for a significant proportion of character buildings in the city. There is a danger that the aesthetic integrity of our city will be further damaged due to the urgent need to strengthen these buildings. Many of the building owners are resistant because of the high cost. By adapting these buildings to house co-workspaces, we can gain more than just the retention of the building’s heritage. The seismic upgrade provides the opportunity for the office space to be redesigned to suit changes in the ways we work. Through a design-based research approach this thesis proposes a framework that clarifies the process of adapting Wellington’s earthquake prone heritage buildings to accommodate co-working. This framework deals with the key concepts of program, structure and heritage. The framework is tested on one of Wellington’s earthquake prone heritage buildings, the Wellington Working Men’s Club, in order to demonstrate what can be gained from this strengthening process. ¹ Reid, J., “Hometown Boomtown,” in NZ On Screen (Wellington, 1983). ² Wellington City Council, List of Earthquake Prone Buildings as at 06/03/2017. (Wellington: Absolutely Positively Wellington. 2017). ³ ibid.
People who want the Christchurch Town Hall restored are optimistic the City Council will today commit to saving the earthquake damaged building.
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Hereford Street bridge (centre)".
A video of Lianne Dalziel announcing her decision to run for the mayoralty of Christchurch. Dalziel talks about the rebuild of Christchurch, and the daily lives of those living in post-earthquake Christchurch. She also talks about her decision to run independently, her experience as a minister, and the need for transparency and financial integrity in the Christchurch City Council. Lastly, she talks about the building consent crisis at the Council, and the need for the Council to connect with communities.
An aerial photograph of the Christchurch central city with Gloucester Street running through the centre of the photograph, and Clarendon Towers in the middle.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "175-179 Tuam Street".
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).