Three years on from the earthquakes of 2011, Census data now confirms massive changes to the face and shape of Christchurch.
Topics - A big study from Harvard and UC Berkeley has looked back into family trees, over centuries, to determine how social mobility has changed. The "Moon man" has used his claimed Christchurch earthquake predictions to defeat an Advertising Standards Authority complaint over his weather forecasting website. The Prime Minister John Key says Labour's flat performance in recent polls is because it's focusing on the wrong issues.
More than 120 disgruntled Christchurch homeowners are taking the Earthquake Commission to court for not doing enough to fix their homes. The law firm, Anthony Harper, has been looking for participants for the group action since last year and has confirmed today it has the numbers to proceed.
An historic Christchurch clock tower damaged in the earthquakes was unveiled today, after undergoing more than eight hundred thousand dollars of repairs.
Professional and personal partners Victoria Flight and John Drew about the nutritional benefits of coconut oil, and the decision to develop their business 'Blue Coconut' after experiencing a deeply traumatic event in Christchurch's earthquake of February 2011.
A Christchurch firefighter who helped amputate a man's leg to free him from earthquake wreckage has been given a rare honour for exceptional bravery.
Johanna McCord moved to Christchurch just before the first earthquake in September nearly four years ago. But she fell in love with the city, regardless of its tectonic troubles. Johanna has just set up a blog called 'We Built This City' which is designed to showcase some of Christchurch's businesses and events. More than an information hub, it takes a personal look at some of the people who are really making a difference in the quake struck city.
'Designed by an incompetent engineer, supervised by an irresponsible engineer and constructed by a fake engineer'. Those were the views of the Christchurch Earthquake Families Group, heard today, at the first - and only - disciplinary hearing to be held against anyone who designed and built the CTV building in Christchurch.
The Labour Party wrapped up its Canterbury Recovery Package in Christchurch today, announcing it would appoint qualified locals to govern the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Owners of earthquake-damaged land in Christchurch may not get an individual payout from the Earthquake Commission if it goes ahead instead with a more widespread approach to fixing the land.
A Christchurch resthome under stress after the earthquakes is being blamed for systemic failures that ended in a frail elderly woman dying.
Topics - A Christchurch resident says he just wants to get on with his life after his house was flooded for the ninth time since the 2011 earthquake. Fairfax newspapers today feature the story of an elderly gentleman who has been burgled so many times he's afraid to sleep in his own home. In Southland - A 72-year old woman has had her 30-year church membership revoked because she is living in a de facto relationship.
Topics - A new two million dollar fund has been launched to urgently help community groups to meet increased demand after Canterbury's earthquakes. The Need Help Now Fund is part of a special 25 million dollar earthquake allocation set up (last year) by the Canterbury Community Trust. The Mana Party leader Hone Harawira is prepared to lose senior party figures such as founding member Sue Bradford over a proposed link with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party. And what about Gareth Morgan's idea of a Universal basic income? John Minto is proposing a universal basic income paid to every New Zealander, out of government tax revenue.
In Christchurch today the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took time to talk to some of the families of those who died in the February 2011 earthquake.
A deepsea remote controlled sub is being sent in to look for the missing Malaysian plane. A woman wrongly diagnosed with cancer endures unnecessary surgery and royal couple meet with families of Christchurch earthquake victims.
Topics - The Parole Board has decided that Teina Pora should be released from prison. Pora has served 21 years of a life sentence for murdering and raping Susan Burdett in Auckland in 1992. He continues to protest his innocence, and he'll appear before the Privy Council in London at the end of the year in an effort to clear his name. A coroner's report criticises almost every aspect of the Fire Service's response to the CTV building collapse that killed 115 people in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Gordon Matenga says more people, more resources, better communication and a better structure might have improved the chances of saving more lives that day.
Police link a West Coast attack on two tourists with the death of another woman in Christchurch. A swarm of earthquakes in Hawkes Bay and Teina Pora will be released on parole.
Christchurch's historic Theatre Royal will reopen for business in November, with bookings about to open for the first show, the Royal New Zealand Ballet season of "A Christmas Carol" The 106-year old theatre has been closed for almost four years because of earthquake damage in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The $40million rebuild and restoration project will be completed over the next five months and on 17 November 2014, the 'Grand Old Lady' of New Zealand theatre will reopen her doors for performances. With so few venues for performance left in the city, including the Town Hall out of commission indefinitely, the rebuild of the Theatre Royal is very good news for Christchurch audiences Chief executive Neil Cox explains the process of getting oldest Edwardian theatre in the country back in use and mounting the large scale theatrical productions it has been famous for.
The man who designed the CTV building that collapsed in the Christchurch earthquake has effectively scuttled any investigation into him by the Institution of Professional Engineers.
Work to restore one of Christchurch's most recognisable heritage buildings can now begin with the help of a grant from the Earthquake Appeal Trust.
Topics - it's been described as the 'Downton Effect' - a revival of more formal dinner parties as the British try to bring back fine dining. Today we learned that insurance companies have completed just 15 per cent of rebuilds and 10 per cent of over-cap repairs more than three years after the Canterbury earthquakes. A series of rallies are being held in five Australian cities today by New Zealanders protesting against legislation which denies them rights to welfare. Commuters are cautiously optimistic about a radical revamp proposed for Wellington's rush-hour rail service.
Topics - Emergency services are at the scene of a cliff collapse at the Port of Lyttelton that has damaged fuel storage tanks. Police say evacuations are underway from Brittan Terrace and Cressy Terrace, with people being taken to Lyttelton Main School. Meanwhile - University of Canterbury researchers have confirmed that Christchurch is now experiencing more frequent and severe flooding due to the impact of the earthquakes.
Fifteen hundred people in Christchurch are without power tonight and more than a hundred homes evacuated after a 'once in a hundred year flood'.
The Canterbury Women's Club had their first function since the 22nd Feburary 2011 earthquake last weekend, we speak with their president Margaret Arnald as the club celebrates it's 101st anniversary.
The quality of multi-owned residential buildings and the capability to maintain that quality into the future is important in preserving not only the monetary value of such housing (Lujanen, 2010) but also the quality of life for its residents. The aim of this paper is to examine the governance and decision-making rules and regulations as they relate to the undertaking of major repairs in multi-owned residential buildings in Finland and New Zealand with particular regard to the Finnish Limited Liability Housing Companies Act 2010 (LLHCA 2010) and the New Zealand Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA 2010). Currently, major building repairs are topical issues in both countries; in Finland as a result of ageing buildings requiring major re-fitting of pipes and other infrastructure, and in New Zealand as a result of earthquake damage in Christchurch and Leaky Building Syndrome nationwide. Major repairs can be a significant financial burden to unit owners and collective decisions can be difficult to achieve. Interestingly, new legislation that governs multi-owned housing was enacted in both countries in 2010. The recent enactment of this legislation provides an opportunity to examine the UTA 2010 and LLHCA 2010 with regard to how they address major repairs, improvements in housing stock and the financing possibilities associated with these undertakings. More specifically this paper explores housing intensification (i.e. building up, out or alongside existing multi-owned residential buildings on commonly owned land) as a means of financing major repairs. The comparison of governance and decision-making in two different shared ownership systems with different histories and cultural contexts provides a chance to explore the possibilities and challenges that each country faces, and the potential to learn from each other’s practices and develop these further. In this regard the findings from this paper contribute to the academic literature (Bugden 2005; Easthope & Randolph 2009; Dupuis & Dixon 2010; Lujanen 2010; Easthope, Hudson & Randolph 2013) concerning to the governance of multi-owned housing as it relates to intensive housing development and its wider social and economic implications.
A blog post from Moya Sherriff about her eighth month as Intern for the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre (CCCRC). In this post Sherriff interviews staff of the Kaiapoi Museum about losing their museum building following the Canterbury earthquakes, and moving their collections into the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre. This blog post was downloaded on 18 November 2014.
A blog post from Moya Sherriff with an update on activity at the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre. This blog post was downloaded on 18 November 2014.
A blog post from Moya Sherriff about her tenth month as Intern for the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre (CCCRC). This blog post was downloaded on 18 November 2014.
A blog post from Moya Sherriff about her ninth month as Intern for the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre (CCCRC). In this post Sherriff writes about treatment of textile collections following a visit from Te Papa conservator Rachel Collinge. This blog post was downloaded on 18 November 2014.
A blog post from Moya Sherriff about her seventh month as Intern for the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre (CCCRC). In this post Sherriff introduces new groups to the Recovery Centre and considers best practice for cataloguing collections. This blog post was downloaded on 18 November 2014.