A graphic showing the costs of proposed new libraries.
The Australian-owned, ANZ Bank, is betting small and medium sized firms will drive earnings next year, bolstered by the Rugby World Cup and rebuilding of the earthquake-hit Canterbury region.
The Green Party has spelt out how it would impose an earthquake levy on higher earning taxpayers, to fund the rebuild of Christchurch, if it becomes part of the next Government.
The rebuild of central Christchurch has been taken out of the control of the city council and will now be managed by a newly formed unit within the Government's Earthquake Recovery Authority.
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.
This study is a qualitative investigation into the decision-making behaviour of commercial property owners (investors and developers) who are rebuilding in a city centre after a major disaster. In 2010/2011, Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, was a site of numerous earthquakes. The stronger earthquakes destroyed many buildings and public infrastructure in the commercial inner city. As a result, affected property owners lost all or most of their buildings, a significant proportion of which were old and in the last phase of their life span. They had to negotiate pay-outs with insurance companies and decide, once paid out, whether they should rebuild in Christchurch or sell up and invest elsewhere. The clear majority of those who decided to reinvest in and rebuild the city are ‘locals’, almost all of whom had no prior experience of property development. Thus, in a post-disaster environment, most of these property owners have transitioned from being just being passive investors to active property developers. Their experience was interpreted using primary data gathered from in-depth and semi-structured interviews with twenty-one “informed property people” who included commercial property owners; property agents or consultants; representatives of public-sector agencies and financial institutions. The study findings showed that the decision-making behaviour of property investors and developers rebuilding after a major disaster did not necessarily follow a strict financial or profit motive as prescribed in the mainstream or neo-classical economics property literature. Rather, their decision-making behaviour has been largely shaped by emotional connections and external factors associated with their immediate environment. The theoretical proposition emerging from this study is that after a major disaster, local urban property owners are faced with two choices “to stay” or “to go”. Those who decide to stay and rebuild are typically very committed individuals who have a feeling of ownership, belonging and attachment to the city in which they live and work. These are people who will often take the lead in commercial property development, proactively making decisions and seeking positive investment outcomes for themselves which in turn result in revitalised commercial urban precincts.
A photograph of All Right? team members making bacon butties for rebuild workers. All Right? posted the photograph on their Facebook page on 10 December 2013 at 9:23am.
A photograph of a protest sign reading, "Oxymorons of the week: Sisters of Mercy, EQC helpdesk, pay rise, rebuild strategy". The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Woodham Road, Linwood".
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'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.
A photograph of a model city at the Rebuild Central office on Lichfield Street. The model was created by members of the public as part of the Christchurch City Council's Transitional City consultation project.
Donations to the Canterbury earthquake fund now total about $11 million. It comes as the Government announced early details of a recovery plan for people wanting money to fix their damaged homes or start rebuilding.
Eleven million dollars has been donated so far to the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. It comes as the Government announced early details of a recovery plan for people wanting money to fix their damaged homes or start rebuilding.
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.
A photograph of a model city at the Rebuild Central office on Lichfield Street. The model was created by members of the public as part of the Christchurch City Council's Transitional City consultation project.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The City Council building looked rather spectacular on this late autumn day".
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.
Text reads 'The new liquefaction?...' and the cartoon depicts a huge mass of 'insurance red tape' inside which is a man with a spade. Two people stare despairingly at the red tape and the man says 'How are we EVER gonna rebuild with this stuff bubbling up!' Context: The people are trying to rebuild their house after the Christchurch earthquakes and are having trouble with their insurance company. The Press has been contacted by people unable to get insurance to buy new homes, construct buildings or start businesses. Business leaders have called insurance delays a "cancer" eating away at the city's recovery, and Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has acknowledged insurance is an "ongoing problem". (The Press - 24 August 2011) Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
In the top two frames a man discovers a pile of stinking bones and scratches his head in puzzlement; he is pleased when a second man rushes towards him with another bone which, in the lower frame, he proceeds to try to fit together with a bone from the original stack. The second man then realizes that the dinosaur from which he took the bone is starting to shudder and quake. Context - This is a metaphor about the rebuilding the city of Christchurch after the earthquake of 22 February 2011. Debates are beginning about the preserving or knocking down of historic buildings as well as the rebuilding or repairing of houses. Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Cantabrians are still surrounded broken buildings and empty spaces on the 10th anniversary of the devastating 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The disaster forced 70 percent of the CBD to be demolished. The Government launched an ambitious recovery plan to help it recover in 2012. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, dubbed the "blueprint" would dictate the rebuild of the central city. To support it, the Government would complete a series of "anchor projects", to encourage investment in the city and make it a more attractive place to live in. As Anan Zaki reports, the anchor projects appeared to weigh down the progress of the rebuild.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Detail of the windows in Alice in Videoland. The building was designed with permanence and strength in mind and the new owner intends the fit out to have the same feel of permanence. His aspiration is to build the best coffee house in the world and the largest in Christchurch".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Jeremy Stewart of Alice in Videoland holding 'When a City Falls', the film recently released about the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes".
A photograph of the rebuilt Blackwell's Department Store on the corner of Williams Street and Raven Quay in Kaiapoi. The department store was rebuilt after the previous building was damaged in the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. This photograph was modelled off an image taken by BeckerFraserPhotos in September 2010.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Jeremy Stewart standing in his lice in Videoland store which is just awaiting the cordon to be pushed back so that customers can come calling".
A piece of decorated furniture in the Words of Hope project. Messages can be seen such as "Strength" and "Let's build a Central Peoples' District not rebuild a Central Business District".
Christchurch CBD earthquake rebuild lit in the last fading golden glow of the day - taken with 70-200 F4 IS from Mt Pleasant. I count at least three big cranes!
An infographic showing estimated repair costs for major Christchurch City Council facilities.
A photograph submitted by Ross Williamson to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "Halberg Street house in flood photo, designated rebuild, under demolition, in green zone, other side of the street is red zone, go figure !".