Christchurch: wrecking balls, steel girders and re-birth

The sign outside the Recruitment Agency read "More positions than the Kama Sutra", and we could see why.  Christchurch was devastated by a huge earthquake just 3 years ago on 22nd February 2011. Further down the street another Agency was hiring carpenters, construction engineers, bricklayers, and labourers of all skill levels.  The problem is that the workforce is simply not large enough to undertake the huge rebuilding programme and priority has had to be given to demolition and making buildings safe. Wherever we walked derelict buildings were cordoned off or shored up with steel girders, whole blocks had been bull-dozed to the ground and large empty spaces took the place of sites formerly occupied

by historic buildings. Not only were solely old structures affected. Many modern city hotels had been closed down. We were prevented from walking down one street as a wrecking ball was slamming in to the side of a modern steel and glass structure. The Art Gallery, another modern structure that

The ruined Cathedral

appeared to escape the earthquake unscathed, had recently been closed to the public for urgent repairs to its foundations.  Most sadly of all, the future of the once magnificent neo-gothic Cathedral lies in doubt after it's spire collapsed and much of the building had to be demolished. Opinion is divided over whether to repair, rebuild in the same style, or replace with a contemporary structure, and whilst the debate rages the ruins remain as a appalling reminder of the earthquake's devastation.  Many businesses have relocated to the suburbs, restaurants have closed down, and the City is no longer the bustling hub it used to be.  At nights the streets are eerily quiet.

Yet there is hope.  The "red zone" around the Cathedral has recently been lifted and people are now able to walk across the city.  Some new buildings have been constructed - our hotel was one of the first.  Some tram lines have been relaid and a tourist tram now shuttles back and forth to the botanic

cardboard Cathedral

gardens.  Our tram conductor recounted how, when the earthquake struck at 1.09pm, his 12 tonne tram was tossed around like a toy, yet miraculously no one was injured.  Had it travelled 20 metres further it would have been covered in falling masonry and the passengers may not have been so lucky.  A cardboard cathedral has been constructed so the people of Christchurch have a place to worship, and the "Restart Project" has encouraged a new shopping precinct made from shipping containers painted in a bright and colourful palette and fitted out as high-end shops and cafés.

Restart Project

As we left Christchurch by car I spotted a slogan that somebody had written on two billboards beside the road.  The first read " the imaginative innovate"; the second "the unimaginative regulate". It felt like the imaginative held the upper hand in determining Christchurch's future.

Punting on the Avon