ISSUE 65 JANUARY 2017
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FOUR AVENUE FORTITUDE CITY�S RETAIL RENAISSANCE HISTORIC ICON COMES TO LIFE
Architectural Builds, Designs, Innovations CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017 1
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2 CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017
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ISSUE 65
CONTENTS
Publisher Metros Publishing Group Ltd Managing Director Trevor Laplanche e: trevor@metros.co.nz
JANUARY 2017
Sales Enquiries e: advertising@metros.co.nz
WELCOME
Editorial Enquiries e: melinda@metros.co.nz 16 Leslie Hills Drive, Riccarton, P.O. Box 9362, Christchurch, NZ Ph: (03) 343 3669 Fax: (03) 343 3659 www.canterburybuild.co.nz COVER Mona Vale Homestead has been a much-loved fixture of city’s heritage scene for many years. After a painstaking two-year restoration and repair project followed, with Mona Vale Homestead officially opening to the public in mid-December. ISSUE 65 JANUARY 2017
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FOUR AVENUE FORTITUDE CITY�S RETAIL RENAISSANCE HISTORIC ICON COMES TO LIFE
Architectural Builds, Designs, Innovations
Photographer: Wendy Cook
Canterbury Build is published every month and delivered to the best addresses in the Christchurch and Canterbury region. It is also available from many selected stores, malls, stands, waiting rooms and offices. Canterbury Build is subject to copyright in its entirety. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission will result in legal action. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information contained within this magazine, however Metros Publishing Group Ltd can accept no liability for the accuracy of all the information. The information and views expressed anywhere in this magazine are not necessarily the views or opinion of Metros Publishing Group Ltd, its editorial contributors, freelancers, associates or information providers.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
A
s we enter a New Year, saddled with expectations and armed with all the motivation our still-merry minds can muster, it becomes all too easy to lose sight of where we’ve come, in lieu of the excitement of all we have to look forward to. While the New Year is certainly a time to look forward, it’s also an opportunity to reflect and, although Christchurch has some amazing things in store, we’ve achieved some pretty impressive ones too. Today Christchurch boasts more road cones and temporary car parks than anywhere else in the world, waypoints in a mammoth rebuild. There is dust, noise, traffic and plenty of detours. But there’s also growth and development. In the past year alone, we have welcomed new civic facilities, seen new office and retail buildings open, significant progress has been made on a raft of key projects and new agencies have assumed responsibility for the city’s regeneration. Local firms have been working flat out in the retail precinct to deliver the first in a series of multimillion-dollar developments designed to bring people and businesses back to the central city in numbers not seen since the earthquakes… and perhaps not even then – page 23. Parts of the historic Arts Centre reopened to the public, as did the Christchurch Art Gallery after an epic rebuild. The city’s heritage buildings have also been the recipients of much work, including the recently opened Mona Vale Homestead – pages 24-27 – while a raft of new community facilities opened their doors, including Mt Pleasant’s new Community Centre – page 12. A new identity too has formed, as inner-city streets give way to creative art projects – pages 16-17 – dotted amongst a thinned-out cityscape which features a dynamic mix of remnant stone buildings and the sharp contemporary architecture of the future. The rebuild is far from finished. In fact, according to Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend, we hit the halfway mark during 2016. Yes, we’re a city in transition, but as they say, the one who falls and gets back up is so much stronger than the one who never fell.
10: The beauty
behind built heritage
11: City’s seaside development ramps up New heart of the seaside community
24-27
13: Hotel developments ramp up city-wide
20: Christchurch
property values jump
22: Historic mansion to be transformed into gallery 23: City’s retail
renaissance underway
32-34:
Bishopsworth Street’s bachelor’s dream
34-35: Landmark Historic icon comes to life
32-33
restoration key to city’s identity
36-38: $60m build at the heart of new urban identity Correction: In the Burwood Hospital feature in our December issue, we listed the companies involved in the project. While we listed Leighs Construction, this should have been Leighs Cockram JV Ltd.
For all
Editor, Canterbury Build Magazine Melinda Collins
12: New heart of the seaside community
18-19: Fortitude in the ‘Four Aves’
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Contact THE CANTERBURY BUILD TEAM Ph: (03) 343 3669
8: Bringing markets and festivals to the city’s heart
Bishopsworth Street’s bachelor’s dream
CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017 3 CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017 3
The Influencers Gerry Brownlee
Richard Seville
Dr Megan Woods
Earthquake Recovery Minister
Holmes Consulting Business Manager
Local Labour Party MP
M
ore than a thousand workers will next year be pouring into New Zealand’s largest government services precinct. The Justice and Emergency Services Precinct will soon be home to about 1100 staff located at the Precinct, with around 900 visitors daily. The $300 million precinct will be the most significant Anchor Project to be completed in Christchurch to date. Construction of the Precinct – which occupies the block between the city’s new bus interchange, retail precinct and the Avon River – is on track for handover by Fletcher Construction at the end of March next year. From that point, tenants will begin moving in, with the building expected to be fully operational in mid-2017. The Precinct is a $300 million project, led by the Ministry of Justice. It brings together all justice and emergency services in one purpose-built, leading-edge precinct in central Christchurch.
The $300 million precinct will be the most significant Anchor Project to be completed in Christchurch to date. I recently toured the precinct with former Prime Minister John Key on his last official day of duty, which he chose to spend in Christchurch, and Justice Minister Amy Adams. The Precinct has built-in resilience against any future emergency, with its own power, water, and waste disposal systems which can function for at least 72 hours. The regeneration of New Zealand’s second biggest city is just as important to the new Prime Minister, Bill English, and the government will ensure the promises we’ve made to the people of Canterbury are honoured. The Justice and Emergency Services Precinct is made up of 3 buildings – the Justice Building, the Emergency Services Building and a car park for operational vehicles. It features 19 multi-jurisdictional courtrooms, a purpose-built Emergency Operations Centre, South Island 111 emergency services and a custodial facility with 31 cells. It has the largest foundation slab of all anchor projects, measuring 9,500m3 and includes 133 base isolators. The slab itself required 10 separate concrete pours, each pour incorporated about 300 tonnes of reinforcing steel, all laid by hand.
S
ix years on from the Canterbury earthquakes, engineers’ roles have changed as the city rebuilds. Immediately after the earthquake, we were busy on assessments, followed by local repairs where practicable and, in many cases, demolition. Once that work was completed and rebuilding began, our work focused on Low Damage Design—bringing our city back to life in a way that answers the seismic demands of the region. Since the earthquakes there has been significant innovation in engineering, construction and repair methods. Much of the engineering thinking of the past has been refined or advanced and, as an industry we’ve been challenged to come up with new and innovative solutions. Christchurch has become a focal point for great structural design and the place to be for engineering professionals. Internationally, New Zealand engineers are acknowledged as seismic experts and the engineering world looks to Christchurch as a centre of excellence. Our Holmes Consulting team in Christchurch doubled as people relocated to deliver the huge amount of design work in the earthquake’s aftermath. We’ve worked on some of the city’s state-of-the-art buildings, like the New Acute Services Building at Christchurch Hospital, Hagley Oval, new schools for Rolleston and Aranui and the Justice and Emergency Precinct. Alongside those important new buildings, we’ve also had the chance to work on amazing heritage structures like the Isaac Theatre Royal and the Arts Centre. Very different design challenges, demanding new thinking and innovation in design and construction.
Christchurch has become a focal point for great structural design and the place to be for engineering professionals. Our team loves Christchurch and wants to stay here, even though the local workflow will taper off as the rebuild progresses. With the pull of the Auckland construction boom now upon us our challenge is to keep all the great people that have moved to Christchurch working here. Luckily, technology has moved on to the point where delivering projects from afar is much easier and more efficient. We are able to share our models and designs easily, video-conferencing is reliable and simple, and we are already delivering projects right around New Zealand from our Christchurch office.
N
o one could accuse 2016 of being boring. Both overseas and here at home the surprises kept on coming thick and fast. From Brexit, to Trump, to resignations closer to home, the news kept packing the punches. After all this excitement, I think we were all looking forward to the Christmas break and a well-earned chance to unwind, relax and reset for this coming year. This coming year is of course an election year here in New Zealand. The issues for the electorate are shaping up already and by the end of last year there was already a sense of being on a campaign footing. There was, of course, a change in Prime Minister, but it remains to be seen if a change in leadership is going to deliver on what matters to Kiwis.
After the excitement of 2016 I think we are all looking forward to the Christmas break. Too many New Zealanders are still shut out of the housing market and are giving up on the dream of ever owning their own home. People are struggling to access the healthcare that they desperately need. Here in Canterbury, methamphetamine and synthetic cannabis use is rising and our police don’t have the resources they need to address it. We saw Ministers who briefly sought to contest the Prime Ministership admit that they just were not being funded to a high enough level to provide for New Zealanders. This cannot continue. Labour campaigned on these issues in the Mt Roskill by-election, and the response delivered in that vote was overwhelming. We cannot continue with this ‘business as usual’ approach. There is no plan, but only more of the same, short-term solutions. In Labour, we have done the opposite and put together a plan for the long haul. We will build houses, fund health and education, put more police on the beat and finally fix Cantabrians homes. New Zealanders deserve better than a soundbite on the news – and that means real, credible action and change. This year, it’s our turn to head to the polls and to have a say on who leads the country. National has a different face, but it’s tired and it’s out of touch. It is time to change the Government and Labour is ready to govern in 2017.
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The Influencers Eugenie Sage
Peter Townsend
Andrew Jameson
Local Green Party MP
Chief executive Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce
NZ Trade Group General Manager
I
t has been great to see parts of the Arts Centre re-open recently after years of skilled and careful restoration, with the public able to enjoy this wonderful complex of heritage buildings. For many it has been a long and hard road back to normalcy. We’ve put up with endless roadworks, footpaths that are more patch than path, empty sections, hassles with insurance and repairs, and ongoing stress. And it’s been nearly six years. Good things take time, so the saying goes. If that’s true, the city we will have in 10 years is going to be amazing. Next year promises more steps to normality and an easier city to live in and enjoy. I’m excited about the work being done to bring cyclists back to the city with major cycleways coming online in Heathcote, Quarryman’s and Northern Line, and sections completed on the Rapanui-Shag Rock cycleway from Linwood to the central city too. We have a great opportunity to incorporate climate change mitigation and sustainable infrastructure that will shrink our carbon footprint. Reducing our reliance on fossil-fuel burning cars by building cycleways is a great way to do that. Public transport is another, but is it working for everyone? Is it helping people rely on their cars less to get from A to B? Given the continued decline in bus passenger numbers, public transport planning in Christchurch requires a major overhaul. When I ask people what they would most like to see in our city in 2017, many say they want the central city to be abuzz again. People make a community, and without people in the heart of Christchurch, it is destined to be a glass box graveyard that won’t attract investment or tourism, or place us on any liveable city lists. The re-opening of central city streets has brought back some life and vitality to the city’s heart. The Re-start Mall has been a great success. Cultural and performance spaces like the restored Theatre Royal and attractive new buildings like the Piano and new office buildings on the West Bank are helping bring people back. We’ve got some great things going on over summer in green spaces like the Lazy Sundays in the Botanic Gardens and the Buskers Festival, but too much of the central city is still a work in progress; broken buildings, expanses of gravel, and shiny new glass boxes. People make a city, so let’s find more ways to help get them back into the city and bring it to life again. What I’m most looking forward to is a city that works for everyone. The recent Kaikoura earthquakes reminded me that Canterbury has been through tough times, but we have done it with resilience and compassion. On that note, I’d like to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2017, and a continuation of the community strength that we have nurtured in the last six years.
T
he resignation of John Key as Prime Minister cannot be let pass without an acknowledgement of the enormous contribution he has made to Christchurch in the post-earthquake environment. John Key was in Christchurch and concerned for our
We have responded to Central Government support in a way that will result in great outcomes for the population of Christchurch, the economy of Christchurch and Canterbury and the nation as a whole. welfare from the start. He has been a regular visitor to the city right through the hard times and into the recovery and regeneration process. His measured leadership, his determination to ensure that the whole of Government supported greater Christchurch in its post-earthquake challenges, and his genuine interest in what happens in this city have all been critical to ensure the recovery has progressed well with strong Central Government support. The genuine concern that the former Prime Minister had for this city ran well beyond his historical association with it. He saw Christchurch as New Zealand’s second largest city, a critical component of our economy and the city that must be supported by Central Government to ensure it could continue to play a vital role into the future. The city will not let him down. We have responded to Central Government support in a way that will result in great outcomes for the population of Christchurch, the economy of Christchurch and Canterbury and the nation as a whole. The former Prime Minister’s leadership in this area will probably never be fully appreciated, however I for one know just how much he cared for Christchurch and how much he ensured that Central Government was held to its promises with regard to all aspects of Government staying strong and steadfast in supporting good social, economic, cultural, and environmental outcomes.
I
n light of the recent Canterbury quake and the current nationwide construction boom, it comes as no surprise that the trade sector is experiencing a workflow influx. While this can be good news for profit growth, the chronic skill shortage means businesses are also finding it difficult to manage their existing workloads. NZ Trade Group (NZTG) has a solution that is proving to be successful. NZTG alongside a membership network of more than 120 trade businesses, is taking on the skills shortage with a practical and collaborative solution. On one hand, we’ve got member businesses who are struggling to meet demand, yet there are others who are faced with project delays, resulting in the possibility of experienced tradies coming off the tools for a period of time. For example, an electrical contracting business facing a threemonth delay on a job which keeps 10 tradies on the tools. The business owner is unable to re-deploy all of these contractors internally and typically has to make the call to release them or absorb the cost knowing that in 3-4 months he will need the staff again. The NZTG platform allows contractors to hire and subcontract
NZ Trade Group (NZTG) has a solution to the chronic skill shortage that is proving to be successful. their tradies within the network until the original job is ready to start again. We send out a message to other member contractors in the area to see if anyone can spare some labour and the great thing about our network is that our members know and trust each other with their quality of workmanship. The collaborative network creates a winning scenario for both parties involved in the exchange. It’s just about doing smarter business and it also reassures business owners that quality will not be compromised. This helps to avoid the additional cost and time which can arise when a subcontractor’s capabilities are unknown until it’s too late. Looking forward as trade businesses across North Canterbury set up to support the rebuild, there is no doubt that workloads will continue to increase. Therefore, business owners must ensure they are efficiently and effectively managing their resources as they near the end of 2017’s first quarter.
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LOCAL EXPERTS DEVELOP A NEW WAY TO ADDRESS LIQUEFACTION DAMAGE BENEATH BUILDINGS
Mainmark has developed and introduced the only viable Liquefaction Mitigation solution that can be applied beneath existing structures. Utilising a combination of ground remediation technologies, Mainmark has been addressing underlying liquefaction vulnerability by strengthening the ground, often at the same time as it conducts the re-levelling of foundations.
solutions are available to them to repair the damage. The EQC explains that to qualify for ILV, a property must meet three criteria1:
Caption
1. the insured land has material vulnerability to liquefaction damage after the Canterbury earthquakes; and 2. the vulnerability to liquefaction damage of the insured land in future earthquakes has materially increased as a result of ground surface subsidence of the land caused by the Canterbury earthquakes; and 3. the increase in liquefaction vulnerability has caused a reduction in the market value of the property (i.e. of the insured land and relevant associated residential buildings combined). The first two criteria, which are the engineering criteria, are assessed at up to 100 year levels of earthquake shaking, or in other words, at the levels
“For homeowners, or builders who are assisting in the remediation of ILV properties, Mainmark can provide local expertise to bring homes and land back to safe occupancy standards for now and into the future,” Mainmark NZ General Manager, Russell Deller.
A building in the east of Christchurch leans precariously after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Buildings such as this could suffer almost zero liquefaction if treated using Mainmark’s revolutionary technology.
and tested by Mainmark. This includes implementing our Liquefaction Mitigation solution to better prepare the re-levelled structure for future seismic events,” added Deller. “We are genuinely innovating in this space, creating non-invasive, cost-effective and fast solutions for the repair of liquefaction damage.” Many buildings and structures in Christchurch have been affected by liquefaction, whereby soil suddenly loses strength and starts to react like liquid. When liquefaction occurs under buildings, the foundations and footings are compromised, putting the building at risk of differential settlement or even collapse. As part of any re-levelling works, it is essential that asset owners incorporate ground improvement to help with the stability of the above ground structures. Mainmark’s new Liquefaction Mitigation solution reduces the impact of future seismic events, strengthening the ground beneath existing structures as part of the re-levelling process. This technology has been extensively tested in the ‘Red Zone’ trials, in partnership with the EQC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), with very consistent and positive results, which are currently being peer reviewed. Liquefaction Mitigation was also successfully implemented at the Northwood Supa Centa where trading was able to continue safely while the work was being conducted. Mainmark’s Liquefaction Mitigation process is the only known viable solution on the market that can be applied beneath an existing structure.
Predicted Settlement
0
pre Settlement post Settlement
1 2 Depth, z (m)
Liquefaction mitigation is a trending topic in ground engineering for earthquake prone regions, primarily due to new methods and technologies being trialled and proving successful in repairing the ground underneath existing homes, commercial buildings and other structural assets.
3 4 5 6 7 8
0
50
100 150
Predicted settlement in a seismic event before (blue) the ground was treated and predicted settlement after (red) Mainmark’s Liquefaction Mitigation was applied showing a building on this treated ground has almost zero chance of settling differentially.
Settlement (mm)
When it comes to addressing earthquake damage to the home and land, Mainmark has the extensive ground engineering experience across residential, commercial and civil projects. Mainmark is an award winning privatelyowned company that has been at the forefront of earthquake remediation for more than 20 years and has been heavily involved in rebuilding Christchurch. It employs a team of highly trained engineers and technicians who use state-of-the-art equipment and solutions to address earthquake damaged land, buildings and structures. Mainmark was recently awarded the International Project of the Year award at the 2016 Ground Engineering Awards in London for its earthquake remediation work on the Christchurch Art Gallery. www.mainmark.com
Mainmark partnered with EQC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in testing its Liquefaction Mitigation solution in the Christchurch Red Zone.
In residential terms, as identified by the Earthquake Commission (EQC) as part of its Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability (ILV) assessments, there are more than 4,400 properties in Christchurch that qualify for ILV land damage following the Canterbury earthquakes. Property owners may find it difficult to navigate the ILV qualification process and, if qualified, are largely unaware of what 1
of shaking which on average are expected to occur at least once in every 100 years. “In fact, we believe many buildings currently slated for removal or rebuild in Christchurch and other earthquake affected geographies could be remediated with the help of proven ground engineering methods developed
http://www.eqc.govt.nz/canterbury-earthquakes/land-claims/flat-land/increased-risk-of-liquefaction/ilv-q-as#Qualification for ILV
6 CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017
Unobtrusive, non-destructive ground improvement being undertaken underneath an existing home in Christchurch.
There are more than
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* Following completion of the ILV assessment process, properties that have qualified for ILV (Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability) land damage. www.eqc.govt.nz CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017 7
Bringing markets and festivals to the city’s heart
“I
nternationally, what’s driven the reinvention of cities is bringing people in to live in the centre, building new apartments downtown, reinventing the lanes, excluding traffic from areas, giving the streets over to people, greening the streets, local markets, something that you don’t get in the suburbs,” urban designer James Lunday says of Christchurch’s regeneration. “It’s where all the best things can congregate together and everyone can enjoy them.” An $80 million precinct featuring farmers’ markets, restaurants, food stalls and shops, fashion stores and offices planned for the western end of Christchurch’s retail precinct, was likely exactly what Lunday envisioned. A group led by property developer Richard Peebles is purchasing a riverside site bordered by Cashel and Lichfield streets, and Oxford Terrace from Crown company Ōtākaro for the development, which will comprise five buildings two to four storeys high, creating 10,000sqm of floorspace with balconies overlooking three new laneways. The pre-eminent feature of the development – a seven-day farmers’
market – will be in a 12m high building with food stores and indoor and outdoor seating on the Lichfield-Oxford corner. High-end fashion stores will face Cashel Street, and a riverside area will host year-round events including night markets and festivals. The site is currently home to the Re:Start container mall, and Peebles hopes many of the mall’s tenants will move into the new development. After unsuccessfully sourcing land on the city fringes for a farmers’ market, Peebles and his business partners for the project Kris Inglis and Mike Percasky – who are also his partners in his $50m development on the McKenzie and
“People recognise that a farmers’ market offers something a little different than suburban malls.”
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Willis site – started looking at the innercity spaces. “Our research showed that all around the world people are bringing markets into the CBD centre. We identified the Re:Start land, did the figures, approached Ōtākaro and they really liked it,” Peebles says. “We think it will be one of the bigger projects in terms of the redevelopment and the number of people that visit.” The development trio is looking for fresh food operators, with the desire for local suppliers to be selling the produce “key to the development”. “People recognise that a farmers’ market offers something a little different than suburban malls. The central city is starting to come to life; it’s like someone’s clicked a switch with the West End filling up. We want to provide
all those workers with an avenue for purchasing fresh local produce right on their doorstep and we’re confident they will utilise it.” Construction on stage 1 of the development will commence in March and will be completed by the end of the year. “You only have to look at the popularity of farmers’ markets around the world to see how they bring in thousands of people,” Peebles says. “It’s also about activation. We’re building an outdoor area and hospitality area with a balcony overlooking the river, so while there will be the farmers’ market, we’re also looking at night markets and bringing events like the Buskers’ Festival back into the heart of the city. “We’re aiming to create a vibrant and exciting area for people to be.”
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Grow your team, Grow your business The skills shortage is a thorn in the side of businesses that are trying to grow.
face to face approach and supports their clients throughout the process. They also familiarise migrants with New Zealand laws, culture and the social and geographical environment. Directors Lyn Sparks and Nikki Jones travel regularly to meet with potential
T
hose wanting to capitalise on the opportunities in their industry and take on the big projects but don’t have the capacity in staff numbers to deliver are missing out on the big contracts. Even pre-earthquake in Christchurch the shortage was widely felt now after Kaikoura many businesses that want to be involved need to have the man power to be able to deliver. “We receive about a hundred queries a week from potential employees,” Business Immigration managing director Nikki Jones says. The company has been bringing valuable workers to New Zealand for more than 20 years. Recruiting can be an expensive process, costing in the thousands with advertising, time spent shortlisting and interviewing, induction and the loss of productivity all the while the desk or digger sits empty. Often there is a disappointing lack of candidates applying and those that do can often be unsuitable – hence the new 90-day legislation to protect New Zealand businesses. Business Immigration NZ serves all sorts of clients struggling for more staff – construction and infrastructure
“Migration can be complex and frustrating if you do not know what you are doing when prospecting.”
industries are a specialty, yet even the smallest of businesses can benefit from the company’s services. Recruiting a new team member costs a flat fee of $690, making it affordable to all. Migration can be complex and frustrating if you do not know what you are doing when prospecting outside New Zealand for the manpower. Legalities, visas, paperwork, health checks, language barriers and setting
up accommodation are some of the factors that need to be considered. Business Immigration NZ has a very thorough process, ensuring that only the best make the final cut. Potential employers need not worry about language barriers, as candidates must speak a very high standard of English and pass a medical test. As migrating can be an emotional process, Business Immigration NZ has a personal
clients and discuss options to best suit their needs. They have assisted people emigrating from Romania, Jordan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and many other countries. The consistent work they do in successfully matching employers with the right talent at the right time just proves that the skill shortage barrier can be overcome. For more information, contact Business Immigration on 03 352 6702, visit the new offices at 137 Victoria Street or visit their website on www.businessimmigrationnz.com.
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The beauTy behind builT heRiTage By Rhonda Mitchell
For some, a heritage house represents a draughty money pit — a relic best avoided or replaced. Others appreciate the aesthetics and the craftsmanship involved in its construction, but prefer to go home to our low maintenance aluminium joinery and floorto-ceiling insulation.
L
uckily, there is a thriving group of heritage home enthusiasts who are content to take on the responsibilities and effort in return for the daily reward of beauty, quirks and craftsmanship, and the chance to be a link in the chain of those who have called the house their home. The majority of older homes are maintained by succeeding householders for their tenure and take their chance with fate and the future. Formal protection can happen in two ways. The first is to apply to Heritage New Zealand for membership of “The List” – a schedule of historic buildings and places. The list is an information tool (divided into two categories of
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importance) rather than automatic protection for the house, or placing restraints and obligations on the owner. The house can then be included in district or city plan heritage schedules, meaning the council is required to notify Heritage New Zealand if a building consent application is received. Heritage New Zealand provides advice to owners on restoration or change, as well as information on the preservation fund options. A building on the list should have this noted on the Council LIM. Option two is a ‘Heritage Covenant’
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1 & 2: Dalman Architecture was the winner of an NZIA Canterbury Heritage award for Acland House last year. Photo: Stephen Goodenough. 3: In 2004/5, historic mansion Te Wepu was adapted to become the central feature of accommodation complex Merivale Manor on Papanui Road.
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permanently registered against the land title. It places conditions on management and use and operates to protect the property for the future. Some heritage homeowners fear formal protection will reduce value. While protection tools can put off developers, well maintained heritage homes become scarcer each year. This century natural attrition, development and earthquakes, have reduced the numbers of traditional Kiwi mansions, villas, bungalows and cottages. Maintenance costs can be higher if you need to use specific materials
or crafts, but grants, advice and information are available from Heritage New Zealand (www.heritage.org.nz) and local authorities. Heritage is what we decide is worth keeping. Your house might not have had a famous resident or a noted designer, but heritage is about preserving the history of all walks of life. As a guardian of an older home it is worth keeping a log book on maintenance and work, and collecting other records that document the place such as photographs and survey data, for future guardians.
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City’s seaside development ramps up
of New Brighton, with requests for funding open to both community and commercial applicants. DCL Chief Executive Rob Hall says the fund will “provide new opportunities for the community and the private sector to contribute to regeneration at a grass-roots level”. Whale pool: Development plans would see the existing free-to-use whale pool play area upgraded and the construction of a new pay-to-use hot salt water pools facility.
New Brighton’s pedestrian mall is slowly getting some movement back during the Seaside Markets held on Saturdays. But it’s a far cry from the bustling shopping centre which held the country’s commercial monopoly on Saturday trading up until 1980. Despite everything the seaside suburb has going for it, retail spend in the area has been on the decline ever since.
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et Christchurch City Council is determined to halt the decline, tasking its development authority Development Christchurch Limited (DCL), with the revitalisation of New Brighton’s commercial core and attracting new investment. Now the organisation – which is one of three new public sector agencies
designed to collaborate in the city’s redevelopment – has unveiled a new grants fund as part of the New Brighton revitalisation scheme. The ‘Creating Momentum Regeneration Fund’ will see $100,000 available to fund projects, initiatives, events and business ventures that contribute towards the regeneration
Pool Project Pushes ahead In 2014 the council approved an allweather hot saltwater pools complex as the preferred legacy project for New Brighton, which is now pushing ahead to the next stage as a result of a huge community response. The development would see the existing free-to-use whale pool play area upgraded and the construction of a new pay-to-use hot salt water pools facility. More than 920 community responses were received to DCL’s call for the community to get involved in the or the upgrade of the existing whale pool playground and development of a hot salt water pool facility. Hall says the response was fantastic and the ideas gathered will inform the next stages of the development.
“We knew, as a result of community feedback over the past few years, that there was some support for this sort of development in New Brighton. This recent engagement process has allowed DCL to hear first-hand what the community wants and keeps the conversation going.” Comments from the community respondents will be used to inform the next phase of the project. DCL will prepare a report for Christchurch City Council to consider a way forward on the development, including how it will fit in with the other initiatives underway in the city’s east. Design work is expected to get underway early this year. DCL is also working on a promenade project for the sand dunes, with a feasibility study on the promenade completed late last year. The promenade is expected to run the 900 metres between Waimairi and North Beach surf clubs and be accessible to people of all physical abilities, cyclists, walkers and pram pushers. The ultimate aim is to extend the promenade the entire 19-kilometre length of the sand dunes to Spencer Park.
SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO MOVING ON ‘Five’ is a number to celebrate – the recovery of the city and the story of LSDC to date. Specialising in design, project management and construction, LSDC was founded by the experienced duo of Gregor Ferguson, and architectural designer Simon Scarlett – both of whom have a long history of construction in Canterbury. For homeowners who have been paid out by insurers and are still living in their earthquake damaged homes, LSDC offer a simple solution for moving forward with their lives. “We can offer a cash price for ‘as is, where is’ properties,” says Scarlett. “It’s an efficient process.” Benefits to the sellers are many – an agreed price based on repair work needed, no real estate fees, insurance payouts retained by the seller, and a delayed settlement of up to six months to allow the seller time to work out what their next step will be. More than 1500 Canterbury properties have been repaired by LSDC since 2011, providing them with the knowledge and skills to bring new life back to the homes they purchase. They have worked on a range of ‘as is, where is’ homes across the city, including restoration of older style architectural properties, with repairs offering the opportunity to modernise the homes, including new bathrooms and kitchens and the addition of features such as landscaping. Their team is a tight knit one, with builders who are Licensed Building Practitioners and Fletchers accredited, including police checks. The entire LSDC team were thrilled to be nominated and selected as finalists in the Champion Canterbury Business Awards in the Infrastructure/Trades Small Business category. “We enjoy the variety of work – for ourselves and for our entire team,” Scarlett says. For more information, call LSDC on 03 260 2608, email info@lsdc.co.nz, visit www.lsdc.co.nz and on Facebook.
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NEw hEarT of ThE sEasidE commuNiTy By Tracey Edwardes
No ordinary hall would have sufficed. The new Mount Pleasant Centre had to make a statement — as the heart of the seaside community which is still rebuilding both lives and structures.
“I
t needed to be iconic. This was as much a response to what we’d all been through as it needed to fit the new business model we were now faced with,” says build chair Phillip Ridge. “It needed to be better than what it replaced to draw people to the community.” Unlike other community centres, which are owned by the City Council, the Mt Pleasant Centre has been community owned and operated since the original memorial centre was built in the 1950s. The challenge was to create a distinctive, functional space within a very modest budget despite generous donations, grants and also a loan and professional assistance from the City Council. The insurance payout for the original building fell well short of the eventual $4.5 million rebuild. Architect Chris Moller, presenter of Grand Designs NZ, joined talents with structural engineer Alistair Cattanach to create a unique integral structure of alternating billets of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) that fold wave-like along the length of the 465m2 building. The inherent structural integrity of the interlocking triangular billets has been likened to that of bivalves — mussels, pipis and scallops — a fitting analogy to its estuary surrounds. Leighs Construction undertook the build from June 2015 to October 2016, including the civil works, landscaping and decking. “The building’s structure is made from 45mm triangular billets of cross banded LVL produced locally by Nelson Pine. Incorporating more than 50,000 screws to 160 three-dimensional steel nodes gives the structure huge strength,” project manager Andrew Wallace says. “The 696 LVL pieces were machine cut off-site and crane lifted in paired sub-assemblies on site, leading to a 4mm accuracy over the 28m width of the building.
“Its exterior skin is made from PIR insulated metal panels for high insulation and strength with architecture and engineering designed as one to integrate skin, structure and services in a highly performing minimal flexible envelope. Its design celebrates how it was made, revealing the raw structure of LVL and its metal fixings, mechanical equipment and services, providing the spaces detail and decoration.” Wallace says the site is reclaimed land, which required 12 steel piles up to 16m long driven to bedrock. The concrete foundation has been designed to position the ground floor up to 1.2m above the surrounding land levels, mitigating any potential exposure to tsunamis and increased sea levels. The project was fully modelled using 3D CAD software, and the 3D components directly fabricated from the computer file to a specialist CNC bridge saw.
“It needed to be better than what it replaced to draw people to the community.” The tight accuracy criteria demanded by the engineering meant that while the foundations were being laid, a oneto-one prototype of one of the major spans was erected off-site in Rolleston. Once the build methodologies had been tested, the entire prototype was dismantled and then re-erected on site as part a sequenced five-stage ‘just in time’ delivery of components to ensure the framing was erected in the allocated five-week duration. “It’s truly been a Leighs Construction team effort, with all involved being very proud. It displays new design ideas,
and has challenged us and proven our workmanship and management capabilities.” The centre houses an atrium, function hall, sprung-floor activity studio, flex studio, meeting, room, office, toilet block and flex studio which now houses the Front Room Café. The Centre also hosts the bustling Saturday farmer’s market. The Front Room Café benefits from the entire community hub’s striking floor to ceiling windows and changing estuary vista. Enquiries for booking the venue can be made at www.mpcc.org.nz.
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Hotel developments ramp up city-wide There’s more than one decision for the property owners when it’s time to farewell the old home, and an established company provides the solutions – all under one roof.
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he Christchurch earthquake shook up regional tourism – both figuratively and literally. Yet, after a five-year infrastructural rebuild programme, the city is safer – and sharper – than ever before, with visitor spending comparable to pre-earthquake numbers. City bed numbers are also increasing to meet demand, with a number of hotel developments under way in the city. Christchurch Casino (CCL) has partnered with an Australian property developer to build an $85 million hotel with more than 200 rooms, an announcement which brings the number of new hotel rooms planned for Christchurch to more than 1000. The hotel will be built on the casino’s half-hectare car parking site across the road, on the corner of Peterborough and Durham streets, earning the fitting moniker The Peterborough. The 4.5-star hotel will have 10 floors, 600 square metres of conference space, eateries and bars, street-front shops, with 434 car parks available for the casino and the public. The developer is Intro, a company which has also been involved in property development at Addington Raceway and an established international hotel firm will be chosen to run the hotel. CCL also owns i-SITE at the Christchurch International Airport, Sixty6 functions and events venue in Peterborough Street as well as the Casino, and CCL chief executive Brett Anderson says The Peterborough development will also feature more than 600sqm of conference facilities.
The new Jucy Snooze at Christchurch Airport features pod-style accommodation
“The Peterborough will be part of the infrastructure required to reassure the world that Christchurch is open for business.” Novotel, Christchurch Airport will feature 200 rooms
“Between all of these operations, we engage with 800,000 people each year and that number will only increase with this new development,” he says. “The Peterborough will be part of the visitor industry infrastructure required to reassure the world that Christchurch is well and truly open for business.” Anderson says there has been great feedback from the discussions to date with organisations like Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism, Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce and the Central City Business Association. Intro director Damien Ellis says the funding for the $85 million project has been secured and once consents are granted, the development will start
immediately with completion expected in early 2019. “There has been a significant investment to date in developing the concept and preparing the reports required for the formal consenting process. Intro already has a track record in this market and believes that the future is bright for the inner-city especially as the anchor projects gather momentum.”
Other planned hOtels fOr ChristChurCh: Crowne Plaza, Colombo-St Asaph corner - 204 rooms Distinction Christchurch, Cathedral Square - 180 rooms Novotel, Christchurch Airport 200 rooms Holiday Inn Express, Gloucester Street - 120 rooms Sudima, Victoria-Salisbury corner - 78 rooms Quest, Manchester-Southwark corner - 44 rooms Apartment hotel, 818 Colombo Street - 48 units
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When your home’s driveWay is not your oWn By rhonda mitchell
Loving thy neighbour will stand you in good stead if you share a driveway with them. Shared driveways are so common that often we don’t give it a second thought before committing to live on one. However, it takes only one party on a shared driveway to behave selfishly to make the living situation for others unpleasant, if not lead to outright dispute. Whether there are two properties, or 20 sharing the drive, the main issues for conflict are parking in the driveway to block or partially block access, leaving rubbish bins or other items in the access, or failing to contribute to the fair share of maintenance. In an ideal world we would meet our neighbours as they move in. We’d find out how many people will be living there, whether there are old or young ones in the house, how much they come and go in a day and their perspective on what it means to be a good neighbour.
Back in the real world, people move house frequently and operate on different schedules. Unanticipated problems can arise and are best dealt with quickly rather than procrastinated over, or left in the hope that the selfish behaviour will magically improve. As one neighbour’s behavior settles into a habit, the affected neighbour inversely moves to exploding point! Whether you are considering a property that shares a driveway, or already share a driveway and are experiencing problems, the first thing to do is arm yourself with the knowledge about the title that governs the property. It could be a Right of Way or Easement, an Access Lot, a Cross Lease or a Body Corporate. These documents should set out rights and obligations with regard to access and maintenance and repairs.
“Shared driveways are so common we don’t give it a second thought before committing to one.”
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standing or parking a vehicle so as to obstruct entry to or exit from any driveway and this includes to within 1m. This rule applies even to parking over your own, single entry, driveway! Should the title documents be inadequately drafted, this could require legal action to fix. Self-help remedies (such as towing offending cars) are fraught with danger and might turn an innocent owner into a guilty party. Many title documents provide for arbitration. A court injunction to control behaviour is the ultimate sanction. The title documents should set out how repair and maintenance is apportioned. When insuring, it is up to each property owner to adequately sum insure and to make claim on insurance to cover their share.
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If the neighbour in question lacks awareness of how their behavior affects you from a common decency perspective, they are unlikely to be aware that the rights and obligations are enshrined in the title. Bringing a copy of the documents to show them how the driveway must be shared could be all that is needed. It is worth noting also that the New Zealand Land Transport Road User Rules prohibit stopping,
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The cRoss-lease conundRuM
How ‘cross-lease’ titles differ from their ‘fee-simple’ siblings By Rhonda Mitchell
Is your property held in cross-lease title? More than 200,000 New Zealand properties are.
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he creation of the cross-lease title was a legal juggle of the 1960s. It allowed separate certificates of title for two or more flats in one building. Further changes in 1971 meant that separate buildings on one section could also be cross-leased, without going through a subdivision process. The minimum lot size which tended to be larger then, could be circumvented. In effect, it was a form of subdivision which avoided the rules of subdivision and this could include the drainage and reserve contributions. Cross-leased properties are each governed by a cross-lease agreement and a copy of this should be read by owners, kept close to hand and studied before purchase of a cross-leased property. The agreement is likely to covenant areas of exclusive use, although some older ones do not. Agreements protect the status quo and consent from
the neighbour is usually required for alterations, additions and changing site coverage. In contrast, an owner of a fee-simple title can make changes that are deemed to be “permitted” under the city or district plan, without neighbour consent. Problems arise when cross lessees do not understand their rights and obligations which can include obtaining neighbours consent for seemingly
“Cross-leasing was a form of subdivision which avoided the rules of subdivision.”
minor alterations. Cross-leasees attempting to obtain neighbours’ consent after an alteration is done, could find themselves being asked for ‘compensation’ in return for consent. Where consent is unreasonably withheld, dispute resolution is most often possible only through arbitration. Arbitration processes are costly and full indemnity costs can be awarded against a losing party. Fee-simple properties are thought to be more saleable and cross leased properties can go through a process of conversion to fee-simple. All parties to the cross-lease must agree, and an
application needs to be lodged with the district or city council, involving privately engaged surveyors and possibly engineers. Services might have to be separated or access upgraded, also involving cost. The Resource Management Act removed the advantages of cross-leases and they are used rarely now. There is support for change to the cross-lease system of title. In the meantime, if you are an owner or potential owner of a cross lease property, do your research on cross-leases, read the agreement for the property closely and be prepared to obtain advice.
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CULTURAL REVOLUTION ON THE CITY STREETS
MIN KIM Painting history
Christchurch is experiencing somewhat of a cultural revolution as the city streets become a creative canvas for artists from both near and afar. By Tracey Edwardes
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hree Christchurch creatives share their musings on our changing cityscape.
LLEW SUMMERS Populating with sculpture Cantabrian icon Llew Summers is eyeing up the city’s empty spaces to exhibit his equally iconic sculptures. He’s all for originality and commends the unique artwork appearing on city walls. His advice to the new bars and enterprises that are popping up: “Be as individual as you can – anything that creates difference.” He admires the blend of old and new that Polar Lane epitomised. His favourite haunt, however, is still Lyttelton’s Wunderbar, with its eclectic position, building, decor and clientele. He has repaired the unique McCormacks Bay home that he built, insisting on retaining its authentic terracotta roof tiles. Summers reminisces on the bustling thoroughfare of the Cathedral Square of the 60s “when I was a boy-racer – only slower”. He’s intrigued to see how the city’s centre will be reinvented.
CIVIL STRUCTURAL
Meanwhile, he is really digging Sydenham at the moment. Formerly overshadowed in importance by the CBD, it has now made a popular resurgence post-quake – and he has embraced it as the new home to an increasing gathering of art galleries and creatives. “It’s great to have them all in one place.” He frequents Sydenham’s First Thursday events of art, music, night markets and exhibitions and the Academy Gold Cinema. His sculpture ‘Peace’ is currently on the corner of Colombo and Battersea streets and ‘Behold The Man’ (Ecce Homo) is opposite the Form Gallery.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Llew Summers’ sculpture ‘Peace’ [left] is currently on the corner of Colombo and Battersea Streets and ‘Behold The Man’ (Ecce Homo) [above] is opposite the Form Gallery.
“The site that was once the Sydenham Heritage Church would make the ideal visible spot for a revolving exhibition – once that pile of rubble is finally cleared,” – bare ground equals artistic opportunity.
Korean-born Min Kim found her forever home in 2003. “When I first stepped out of the airport “it was as though Christchurch gave me a big hug”. And that didn’t change after the earthquakes; she was so impressed by the community warmth during the crisis. “I loved Christchurch even more.” She particularly bonds with the city’s west side, around the Arts Centre, the museum and Hagley Park. “It is like the city is cocooned in a nest, among a huge expanse of nature – there’s so much room to breathe.” As a classical-impressionist painter with an appreciation for Europeanstyle architecture and our city’s English village appeal, she is thankful for what still remains – and can’t part with her 100-year-old St Albans villa. “I love anything old.” After having her own gallery in Merivale, she spent three years perfecting her talent in Florence, but returned to her beloved adopted city to front Min Kim gallery within the historic Art Centre in 2008, until its temporary
“Be as individual as you can – anything that creates a difference.”
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“Our city is essentially still the same, but we also have to move on.”
Contemporary artist Liv Worsnop’s work focuses on the ‘growth’ of the rebuilding city – but from a more abstract perspective.
closure in 2010. Fate then lead her to Bryce Gallery, which she now owns, and will continue, in addition to her long-awaited return to the restored Arts Centre scheduled for March this year. “I am so fortunate to have 185sqm of space upstairs on the Worcester Street side, with a lovely big window,” she says of the space in which she will focus on New Zealand art. “I am going to create a really beautiful gallery and am inspired to paint Christchurch’s cityscape, the new and the old – and of course the people. Our city is essentially still the same, but we also have to move on. It’s just like a person with the same heart, but now with new clothes.”
LIV WORSNOP The greener side
Artist Min Kim at the Arts Centre, where she will open a new gallery in March.
We’ve seen the effects of nature’s enormous power on our city. Contemporary artist Liv Worsnop takes notice of the quieter forces at play. She recognises the assets of the not-so-humble weed’s surprising role in the rebuild. They don’t have to look aesthetic to her – “it’s more their function”. The seemingly wayward vegetation in vacant building sites “have purpose – to retain moisture, steady the dusty ground and provide food for bees”.
A beehive exists on C1 café’s rooftop where her plant artwork appears on its windows – celebrating the city’s self-seeding eco-system. After the earthquakes, she was applauded for transporting succulents from their red-zoned roots and anchoring them in crevices of city rubble. “One plant can self-sew a thousand seeds. They are the archetype of resistance, using the sun’s energy. Our buildings can harness that too, such as with garden rooftops and solar power.” Recently in Budapest she was impressed by its bars, re-developed from partial historic ruins and would like to see that here. Of our emerging CBD she loves “sassy teenagers making their mark in graffiti and having a voice in the city”; the history “of what once had been” that’s still in evidence, and unexpected beauty in Armagh Street where stagnant water filling a basement cavity is coloured by nature’s brush-stroke of amazing greens. Liv’s works are currently at the CoCa (Centre of Contemporary Art) in the Precarious Nature exhibition until February 19, where she expresses that reusing and sustainability is all-important to our existence. A sculptor, graphic artist, creator and founder of www. plantgang.co.nz, she has no artistic boundaries and feels Christchurch could be as fluid – one of fruit trees, rambling organic gardens and allowing nature just to do its thing. “Green is gold,” she says.
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Fortitude in the ‘Four Aves’
Efforts to rebuild the city’s commercial heart The Canterbury quakes were a game changer for Christchurch, tearing away from us an iconic identity the city had been building for itself since the Canterbury Association settled the surrounding province of Canterbury and gave the city its name in 1848.
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ith the brunt of Mother’s Nature’s force concentrated in our central business district, it was the city’s commercial heart which suffered the most. With up to 70 per cent of the buildings in the centre of the city scheduled for full or partial demolition post-quake, it was all about survival of the fittest — a physical test of design, materials and age that put some of our most beloved buildings at risk. Others, it brought down. But Cantabrians have fought back and, as we enter the seventh year since the first quake hit, we’re seeing some very real progress with exciting new developments and the redevelopment of some very old ones.
$1 building’s new home Christchurch’s oldest wooden commercial building is ready for its
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$500,000 restoration after moving to its final resting place. Shand’s Emporium was lifted by crane onto its new foundations facing Manchester Street last month. The category one heritage-listed building was first moved to Manchester Street from its Hereford Street location in June 2015 after property developer Antony Gough famously sold the building to Christchurch Heritage Ltd (CHL) for $1. It was initially positioned to the back of the section until the services and foundations were ready. The building will be restored to its original condition, with work expected to cost $500,000 and be completed by September 2017. The building sits beside the former Trinity Congregational Church, which would also be restored by CHL. A new annex will be built behind the two buildings and would include showers, toilets, a
Shands Emporium at its new Manchester Street site
Furniture store’s new building, old site
Before the earthquakes, Shands housed second-hand shops
kitchen and offices. Built by John Shand in 1860, Shands Emporium’s first tenants were solicitors and in more recent times it housed shops selling second hand books, vintage clothing and bric-a-brac.
Freedom Furniture is to reopen in Moorhouse Avenue, the street where it was based before the Christchurch earthquakes. The furniture and homewares store was in the Harvey Norman Centre, between Colombo and Durham streets before the earthquakes, when its building was badly damaged and subsequently demolished. The new 1700-square-metre store will open mid-this year in a new building under construction on the corner of Antigua Street and Moorhouse Avenue. The site, which is owned by local investors, previously held a two-storey building occupied by recruitment firm Tradestaff and a Smiths City and Powerstore clearance centre.
historic Food hub reopens Although technically set outside the ‘Four Aves’, Carlton Courts’ historical significance means we’ll include it into our list. The double-storey building, on the corner of Bealey Ave and Papanui Rd, was badly damaged in the earthquakes before being cordoned off in 2012 amidst safety concerns. Its tenants included Sophie’s Cafe, Deli De Luxe restaurant, PA Stamps & Coins, and a Harcourts real estate office, and now the Carlton Courts building has been repaired and will become a food and drink hub once again. The early-20th century building has been fixed and strengthened and leased to new tenants — including three eateries — who will open progressively. The project involved adding structural mortar to the brick walls and putting on a new roof. Creperie Maison de Crepes, a Gatherings restaurant from Shop Eight chef Alex Davies and a new Americanstyle Sun Dog Diner are currently making Carlton Corner their new central city homes, with MTF and a travel agency also preparing to take office premises in the building.
The Carlton Courts suffered extensive damage in the earthquakes, but is reopening again after an extensive repair programme.
The building is directly opposite another historic building, the Carlton Hotel which was demolished post-quake and replaced with a new and modern building by Cook Brothers Construction.
one oF the last historic Façades One of the last standing historic façades to be retained in Christchurch, a development at 181 High Street offers a unique mix of modern contemporary design while incorporating the landmark façade of former McKenzie and Willis department store. The development is made up of three 3-storey buildings connected by air bridges and laneways in the heart of the Innovation Precinct on the corner of High and Tuam streets, where it is connected by the laneways initiating the South Frame. A staple of the Christchurch Farmers' Market at Riccarton House and Bush, Bacon Brothers will be taking the commercial plunge by opening its first restaurant in the development in February.
The historic façade of McKenzie and Willis was briefly visible before construction commenced on what will be a striking development.
Bacon Brothers has been supplying Christchurch with locally-sourced bacon sandwiches for several years, with owner Troy Bilbrough throwing away his job and his savings to open the first Bacon Brothers' Burger Bar in the city centre.
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ChristChurCh property values jump Property values in Christchurch have jumped by 9.2 per cent in the past three years, according to new council rating valuations.
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he revaluations of the city’s 167,000 properties — which includes 143,000 homes — will be used to calculate rates from July. Residential property has risen 7.3 per cent, with average rating values – undertaken by the Christchurch City Council’s contracted valuer Quotable Value (QV) — now at $529,000 for houses and $265,000 for residential sections. Suburbs showing the highest
increase in values are Somerfield, Spreydon, Upper Riccarton, Sockburn and Fendalton. Commercial and industrial properties in parts of the central city have seen the highest value growth since 2013, with the overall value of commercial properties increasing 8.5 per cent over the past three years, with a corresponding land value increase of 13.7 per cent. Overall, industrial properties have seen an increase of 13.4 per cent, with a corresponding land value increase of 14.8 per cent. The council is legally obliged to carry out a general revaluation every three years to ensure that rates are spread fairly across the city. The last general revaluation was
done in 2013 when the Government passed a special Order in Council to value Christchurch properties as if the earthquakes had not damaged them. Unlike the previous round, this time unrepaired earthquake damage has been taken into account, with about 4040 properties with unrepaired earthquake damage identified. “The Christchurch property market has seen the rate of value growth slow over 2015 /2016 as the rebuild has seen supply meet demand. The market is generally functioning well with clear indications of market trends,” QV national revaluation manager Gail Smits says. Although a rating valuation should reflect the likely price a property would sell for at the effective date of the
rating revaluation (in this case 1 August 2016), they are not a current market valuation of your property. Current market valuations require an individual inspection of a property and full written report by a Registered Valuer. Rating valuations are done using a mass-appraisal approach, taking into account recent sales of similar properties and establishing a market trend that is applied to similar properties in the area. If property owners do not agree with their updated rating value or believe damage to their property is not reflected in their new rating valuation, they have the right to object. Objections can be lodged online or you can request an objection form by phoning 0800 787 284.
“The revaluations of the city’s 167,000 properties will be used to calculate rates from July.”
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Volunteers key to Port Hills restoration work Framing the city’s western stretch and separating the city from its harbour-side neighbours is the eroded remnants of the Lyttelton volcano which we’ve come to know as the Port Hills.
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prominent feature of the central Canterbury landscape, being visible for many kilometres from the north and west. What we don’t tend to see as much of are the core group of 10 volunteers who are the key to the Port Hills restoration work, turning up to Port Hills Restoration volunteer days for more than eight years. “Without these people giving up their time and committing so fully to our programme, we wouldn’t have a programme,” Council park ranger Di Carter says. “They are a stunning group of people that are ‘the core’ of the restoration on the Port Hills.” The volunteer planting programme restores native forest to designated areas of the Port Hills. About 3000 native trees are planted by volunteers each winter and maintained in spring and autumn. Some of the group have been involved for more than 15 years and, Carter says, the core 10 have been there for nearly every event. “They are the ones who inspire others in the community to share the pleasure of restoring the local environment.” For recent retiree, Kev Dean, the chance to work as a volunteer planting and weeding on the Port Hills is a privilege. “I’m a tree hugger unashamedly, I guess. My partner and I were walking in the Port Hills one day and we saw Di out with a group planting and thought that was a great idea. “Initially we had a little reluctance to get involved as we thought it might be at the expense of staff jobs, but when we talked to people we realised a lot of the work volunteers do would just never go ahead without them, so we decided to get involved. “Di Carter (who runs the Port Hills Restoration Programme) is such an
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inspiration. She gets out there and talks to every volunteer; she keeps us all coming back. She is the reason we all return, I’m sure of it. She has a passion and energy that we’re all just drawn to. “And it’s not too taxing. Personally, it’s nice to be putting something back but if anything, it’s purely selfish. I would like to see more bush around the place and so I’m happy to be involved in making that happen.”
“They are a stunning group of people that are ‘the core’ of the restoration on the Port Hills.” A presentation to volunteers several years ago showing before and after photos had also inspired the volunteers to keep going. “It was just brilliant to see,” Dean says. “Some of the things we had planted are now up to my shoulders and it’s just amazing to see that in my lifetime. We really are making a difference.” A further spin-off was the increased birdlife now filling the airwaves near Dean’s Westmorland home, including wood pigeons, black fantails and bellbirds galore filling a local reserve. Carter says the volunteer programme still form a huge part of the Council’s parks work, and everyone’s contribution makes a difference. There are 18 public volunteer events of differing types on the Port Hills each year.
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Historic mansion to be transformed into gallery McLean’s Mansion is one of the remaining heritage buildings in the central city, representing the vestiges of a time which is all but architecturally lost.
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he ornate 116-year-old central city mansion has been under threat of demolition since suffering extensive earthquake damage and for sale in as-is-where-is condition, but now the newly formed McLean’s Mansion Charitable Trust has come up with a plan to buy the building and turn it into an art gallery. The trust was set up by businessman, engineer and heritage building owner Trevor Lord, who has enlisted acclaimed artist Philip Trusttum, curator and art critic Warren Feeney and leading architect David Sheppard as fellow trustees. The trust, which also has the support of New Zealand’s biggest private art collector Sir James Wallace, has been working to raise the funds needed to repair the earthquake damage to the
Photo courtesy of Urbex Central
building and to renovate it so it can function as an art gallery. They envisage turning McLean’s Mansion into one of the country’s foremost art galleries, attracting 100,000 visitors a year. It will also feature a restaurant, venues for musical events, displays showing early life in the mansion and art storage facilities. Now Christchurch City Council has agreed to give a heritage grant of more than $1.9 million to the charitable trust seeking to buy the building. The grant is subject to a number of conditions, including a full conservation covenant being placed on McLean’s
Council has agreed to give a heritage grant of more than $1.9 million to a charitable trust to buy the building.
Holly Lea in its heyday
Mansion and its grounds. McLean’s Mansion, in Manchester Street, was designed by the England Brothers and built from kauri in 1900 for wealthy Scotsman Allan McLean. It has 53 rooms and was reputed to be the largest timber framed residence in New Zealand at the time of its construction. Designed in the Jacobean Revival style, the building is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a category one historic building — the highest possible ranking. The mansion was previously know as Holly Lea, a home for refined women in straitened circumstances, and has also been a dental nurses’ hostel and an educational institute. The building has already survived an emergency demolition order issued by
McLean’s Mansion is currently boarded up and off limits.
the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority in 2011 after a long fight by heritage campaigners save it. The council grant is conditional on the trust successfully purchasing the building and on the agreed scope of works being completed.
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CITY’S RETAIL RENAISSANCE UNDERWAY For some it’s the thrill of the hunt, for others it’s therapy, and for many it’s a way of life. Shopping, once simply a means of procuring necessities, has morphed into that of ‘retail therapy’ and, as we are enticed to shop, acquire, hoard and collect, our shopping centres are expanding.
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hristchurch, which lost the retail base of its central city postquake, has begun somewhat of a retail renaissance, with retailers jostling for a place in the burgeoning central city. International fashion retailer Topshop has confirmed it will open a store in Philip Carter’s $140m retail and office precinct, The Crossing, later this year. And it won’t be the only international brand to hit the city. It has long been rumoured that Topshop – which opened its first New Zealand store in Auckland in 2015 to much hype – would open a Christchurch base. Carter – who is pumping almost half a billion dollars into Christchurch’s retail sector – owns a 25 per cent stake in Top Retail which owns and operates the New Zealand Topshop and Topman chain. The $140 million Crossing development will cover the onehectare block between Cashel, Colombo, Lichfield and High streets. With a dynamic mix of new and refitted heritage buildings, it will house retail, hospitality and office tenants and feature a parking building. The eastern end of the retail precinct is shaping up to be a fashion centre, with some of the Re:Start Malls fashion tenants understood to be considering opening permanent stores there. Tim Glasson is another key stakeholder in the Christchurch retail scene, heading up the $80 million ANZ Centre development on the old Triangle Centre.
The new $80 million ANZ Centre opened late November with retailers including cosmetic giant Mecca Maxima, Suprette and Patridge Jewellers.
A Glassons and Hallenstein Brothers superstore was launched in the ANZ Centre opposite The Crossing, with Glasson the major owner of Hallenstein Glasson Ltd, which owns both brands. Queues of shoppers lined Cashel Mall in late November, eager to be first through the doors of the new shops that opened in the new $80 million ANZ Centre diagonally opposite Ballantynes. Its first offering of retailers includes cosmetic giant Mecca Maxima’s first New Zealand store, Suprette’s first South Island store, and Patridge
Jewellers opened soon after. Other stores, including outdoor gear retailer Macpac and fashion store Storm, are expected to open next month, while ANZ and engineering firm Beca will go on the office floors. With the retail offering among the first permanent shops to open in the central city since the 2011 earthquakes, some shoppers queued for more than 90 minutes in order to take advantage of some strong opening offers and store giveaways. Just weeks after the ANZ Centre
“This development is a real opportunity to revive Cashel Mall as the principal retail experience in Canterbury.”
The $140 million Crossing development will feature a dynamic mix of new and refitted heritage buildings, for retail, hospitality and office tenants.
opening, the $140m BNZ Centre opened on the neighbouring block. The first of the BNZ Centre stores to open included jewellery stores Pandora and Michael Hill, gift store Simply New Zealand, fashion store Death by Denim and variety store Loose Change, with food kiosks offering everything from ice cream to sushi. Other stores in the complex will include juice bar Tank, telecommunications company Spark, and national fashion chain Repertoire, with the BNZ bank’s ground floor customer branch to open in March. Upstairs office tenants ACC and law firm Cavell Leitch will also move in early this year. Lichfield Holding’s Nick Hunt spearheaded the Cashel Square development in City Mall and has always stood by plans to reinvigorate the area. “Cashel Mall has always been an iconic shopping centre, and BNZ Centre will enhance the retail experience in the area and Christchurch as a whole,” Hunt says. “This development is a real opportunity to revive Cashel Mall as the principal retail experience in Canterbury.” Property developer Antony Gough is working on the The Terrace precinct, a development which will include a hospitality precinct, a $50m office and retail building and a car parking building facing Hereford Street, with retail outlets at street level. Smaller retail precinct developments include Denis Sunderland’s building facing Cashel St and Plymouth Lane, which is under construction, and nextdoor neighbour Peter Guthrey is also set to rebuild on the former Guthrey Centre site next to Ballantynes. CANTERBURY CANTERBURYBUILD BUILDJANUARY JANUARY2017 201723 23
Feature - Mona Vale Homestead
Historic icon comes to life after two-year restoration The construction team at Simon Construction are proud to say that one of their latest projects looks like they haven’t been there. Although the comments seem incongruous with the field of construction, which, at its very heart is about improving the built environment, the sentiment is well-aligned with the art of heritage restoration.
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ona Vale homestead has been a much-loved fixture of the city’s heritage scene for many years. Built in 1897 for Frederick Waymouth before being purchased by heiress Annie Townend in 1905 and renamed
24 CANTERBURY CANTERBURY BUILD BUILD JANUARY JANUARY 2017 2017 24
‘Mona Vale’ after her mother’s birthplace in Tasmania, the homestead became a well-used wedding, restaurant and conference venue before its closure due to earthquake damage.
Following the September earthquake, Simon Construction was engaged to carry out initial stabilisation and deconstruction works, to ensure no further damage would occur while the design team worked through the documentation process for Simon Construction to price the job. Consent was issued on January 21, 2015, and a painstaking two-year restoration and repair project followed, with Mona Vale Homestead officially opening to the public in mid-December. Canterbury Build magazine talks to Simon Construction project manager Geoff Atkinson about the logistics involved in reinstating the historic beauty to her original condition.
“The homestead became a wellused wedding, restaurant and conference venue before its closure due to earthquake damage.”
merging building codes witH Heritage When it comes to one of the city’s most historically significant buildings, reconciling the Building Code while protecting the heritage fabric was no easy feat. Mona Vale Homestead’s three chimneys, which play a vital role in the building’s construction, all collapsed. They took with them some of the structural beams and tore up parts of the floors and ceilings. Large sections of the masonry walls fell in, leaving lathe and plaster exposed. A heavy masonry roof proved one of the most dangerous elements and required an invisible structural steel and plywood bracing diaphragm to be inserted within the roof area. “Works involved the deconstruction of all existing brick masonry and all the brick chimneys,” Atkinson says. “General construction of the old girl was triple skin brick, so we propped, deconstructed and replaced those bricks with new structural timber plywood walls and a brick veneer.” Thousands of bricks that formed the building’s walls were photographed, labelled and numbered before being put back in their original position, with an area of numbered bricks intentionally left labelled to demonstrate the lengths gone to in order to achieve the final outcome. A steel and timber structure now sits within the building’s roof and walls, aiding its structural strength. The homestead’s heating and electrical systems were also replaced, along with much of the underground services.
the project in its entirety,” Atkinson says. “The biggest challenge was adapting the theory of the structural engineers’ plans and specifications to what we were unveiling throughout the process. A set of docs had been designed on what the engineer was guessing was there, so as everything was deconstructed we had to stop, get the engineer’s assessment and adapt a solution accordingly.”
“The majority of the existing lathe and plaster on the first-floor walls was removed and replaced with Gib bracing diagrams; 60 percent of the existing terracotta roof tiles were removed and a ply roof diaphragm was installed. This included ceiling diaphragms on the top side of the ceiling joists and top side of the rafters. The new chimneys were built of structural steel frame.”
chimneys reconstructed to 100 per cent NBS. Like the neighbouring Mona Vale Lodge, Christchurch City Council elected not to target 100 per cent to the entire building because such work would have been too intrusive to the heritage fabrics. Listed as a category one building, Mona Vale Homestead is the highest heritage category in New Zealand. “As
“Works involved the deconstruction of all existing brick masonry and all the brick chimneys.” Mona Vale Homestead was assessed as 45 per cent of New Building Standard (NBS), with the restoration bringing the building up to 67 per cent and the
a result, there’s continuous hold points and routine observations made by a heritage architect, an archaeologist and a City Council heritage team oversees
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Feature - Mona Vale Homestead
“It’s extremely rewarding and unlike any other commercial or residential construction project.”
Patience is key Even with the sheer scale of the damage put aside, it has been a long process to find a repair solution everyone is happy with. Structural engineers, heritage experts and the council consents department all had to sign off on each solution. Any small variation required all parties to be consulted all over again. “Fitting the large structural steel frames within the structure was also a massive task. “Then all the existing trim, doors, bricks and general heritage fabric was removed, numbered, stored before all being put back in its original place, right down to every piece of skirting and architrave. “Patience is definitely key when it comes to heritage restoration.”
Then there were the good parts. During the deconstruction of the property – which was built around 1897 – a number of important heritage items were discovered, including original timber linings, mosaic tiles and an ornate pressed metal ceiling which were sympathetically restored and now on show for visitors to see. The ability to recover these fabrics and remove various other accretions from the building are examples of heritage salvages that may have remained unknown or unrealised for many years had the rebuild not taken place. “We applied an accelerated programme, so the last six weeks or so of the project we were working around very tight timeframes, which, although was one of the most challenging aspects, also became one of the most rewarding.
“We had spent over a year with this old girl completely deconstructed and bare boned, then in those last two months it really came to life with old
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trims etc coming back on after years of being in storage. “It’s extremely rewarding and unlike any other commercial or residential construction project,” Atkinson says. “They say time is money in the construction game, but when it comes to heritage restoration, the heritage fabric comes before everything. When the number one priority is restoring or retaining the heritage fabric, patience really is everything.” Simon Construction has a proud history of more than 33 years working on heritage buildings, with recent projects including the strengthening and repairs to four buildings within the The Arts Centre, Riccarton House on Kahu Road, the 1920s Curator’s House and the two-storey Victorian Avebury House in Richmond.
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Mona Vale Homestead was built around 1897 by Frank and Alice Waymouth, who named it Karewa. It was later owned by Annie Townend who added the gate house, bath house and conservatory. Tracy Gough, founder of Gough, Gough and Hamer, known today as Gough Group, bought the property in 1939. Following Tracy Gough’s death, Mona Vale was sold to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A New Zealand company expressed an interest in buying Mona Vale from the church and was considering demolishing the building and subdividing the land. Amidst a public outcry over the proposal, the church declined the company’s offer and waited until the council had raised sufficient funds to buy the property, which it did in June 1969 to turn it into a public park. The purchase of Mona Vale is credited to Christchurch mayor Ron Guthrey. Before the earthquakes, the homestead was used as a restaurant and function centre. Continental Catering opened the new Mona
Vale Pantry café in the building on December 15, after a long association with Mona Vale, dating back to February 1976 when the catering company The Master the two-bedr hosted its first wedding there. modern resid “Like any good, heritage job, if you can sit back and looks like you’ve and subtlety, crafted, sayin never been there, it’s a job well done,” of the human Atkinson says. “The quakes all but shook the interior journ varying homestead to pieces. We’ve stripped it heigh shade”. apart, strengthened the heritage bones The home’ of the building and we’ve put back the contrasts wit heritage fabric so she looks just like she interior, whic did before the quake. blend of both old-style. The restored and improved fou draw the eye with tonguethrough to th addition to th floorplan. Sol on the roof a provide a nat The use of “It’s rewarding to see her as she was in her heyday and know she has the strength in her for many more generations to enjoy her.” So, although after a painstaking restoration programme there is little visible sign of how Atkinson and the rest of the Simon Construction team have spent their last two years, it’s a result the whole city can be proud of. After all, as they say, ‘good things take time’ and nothing could be more apt than when it comes to our surviving built heritage.
“Like any good, heritage job, if you can sit back and looks like you’ve never been there, it’s a job well done.”
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Feature - National House of the Year - Form Builders
merging modern methodologies And old-style chArm By angela Waller
“An opportunity to create a home like this doesn’t come along often.”
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n intricate merging of modern methodologies and old-style charm was used to create one of the 2016 top 100 homes in New Zealand – a part replica, part reincarnation of a quake-damaged 1960s abode. Originally designed by one of Canterbury’s most renowned architects, Maurice Mahoney (of Warren & Mahoney), who employed innovative construction company Form Builders Ltd to bring the redesign of his beloved Fendalton home to life.
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From redesign to rebuild The 14-month project involved the careful restoration of many of the home’s original materials and features, seamlessly redesigned into the new construction. “It was a replica design from the original house, but using all lightweight materials, as well as deconstructed fittings, mouldings and timbers,” says Form Builders Ltd director Matt Stevenson. “A lot of the original timber was recycled and it came up beautifully. It’s an extremely unique home, which Maurice redesigned and we were very privileged to be asked to rebuild it. An opportunity to create a home like this doesn’t come along often, so it was really exciting.” Following a stunning result on completion, Form Builders entered the two-bedroom home into the 2016 Registered Master Builder regional awards, winning Gold for ‘House of the Year’ in the $650,000 to $1 million category. Stevenson and his team were subsequently surprised and delighted to also be named national winners of the ‘House of the Year’ award. “We were absolutely rapt with the results,” he says. “After receiving the regional award, we weren’t expecting anything more, so to take out the national category as well was amazing. We’re really proud of our team and their craftsmanship, so it was great to receive recognition for that. It was a poignant and fitting end to a really special project.”
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Feature - National House of the Year - Form Builders
An AwArd-winning reconstruction The Master Builders judges described the two-bedroom home as a superb modern residence of charm, warmth and subtlety, which had been beautifully crafted, saying the house “takes note of the human scale and provides an interior journey through spaces of varying heights, textures, light and shade”. The home’s modern exterior contrasts with the detailed timber interior, which is an impossibly perfect blend of both contemporary and old-style. The living room ceiling was restored and reinstated above new and improved foundations. Exposed beams draw the eye to the vaulted ceiling, with tongue-and-groove lining carrying through to the sunroom – a welcome addition to the home’s original floorplan. Solar panels were installed on the roof and Terra Lana wall batts provide a natural solution to insulation. The use of both high and low ceilings
“The design was extremely detailed, so there was no room for discrepancy – it had to be perfect.” throughout the 186sqm home creates contrast and the impression of more space, as does the frameless glass supplied by NZ Frameless Glass. Retro fitting the deconstructed
timbers was one of the most challenging aspects of the project, Stevenson says. “The design was extremely detailed, so there was no room for discrepancy – it had to be
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perfect. It’s quite a small house, which demonstrates that with smart design and good use of space, you can achieve an expansive feel on a small footprint.”
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the journey to success Stevenson began his construction career with an apprenticeship 20 years ago, before working abroad. Following a few years in Auckland honing his skills with the fine detailed work of fitting out super yachts, he returned to his hometown of Christchurch in 2008 and established Form Builders. Buoyed by the city rebuild, he has grown the business to a dedicated team of 13 – five senior tradesmen, five apprentices, an operations manager and office admin – including licensed building practitioners to ensure a quality assured construction process. The company specialise in all types of architectural housing, alterations and additions, light commercial and industrial works, design and management, landscape construction, and overcap earthquake repairs. “While our specialty is high-end architectural new builds, we can cater to everyone,
“We establish strong working relationships with our clients, and really listen to what they want.”
from multimillion dollar homes to smaller homes on a budget.” Attention to detail is key to the company’s success. “This is vital to finishing each project to the highest standard possible, every time,” he says. “We keep our crew in-house and being
a smaller-sized company, it offers more of a personal touch and also means better quality control. I’m still on the tools myself, which helps keep my finger on the pulse of every project.” Communication is also integral, he says, and the crew are not only
professional and knowledgeable, but friendly and approachable – often an underestimated attribute with construction companies. “We establish strong working relationships with our clients, and really listen to what they want. We are here to help you turn your build or renovation dream into a reality – and our tried and tested process ensure that happens as smoothly as possible.” Form Builders Ltd offer the Registered Master Builders Association contract, and the Master Build Guarantee. Located on the corner of Barbadoes Street and Warrington Street, visit www.formbuilders.co.nz for more information.
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Feature - National House of the Year - Sinclair Builders
Bishopsworth street’s Bachelor’s dream By Rhonda Mitchell
When he invited the owners of the houses he had entered into the House of the Year Competition to attend the regional awards ceremony, Chris Sinclair of Sinclair Builders was hoping the night would end with some cause to celebrate, rather than a slink home empty-handed.
H
e need not have worried. With gongs awarded for all four houses entered, Sinclair needed extra hands to help carry the awards. Having almost abandoned the idea of entering halfway through filling out the paperwork, Sinclair Builders claimed Canterbury Regional Competition Silver in the Master Build Services Renovation up to $250,000 and Gold for the Builder’s Own Home Category. Further, Sinclair Builders’ Regional Golds for both the Resene New Home $300,000 - $400,000 and the FutureProof Building New Home $500,000 $650,000 were also Category Winners, which means they went forward to the National Competition. As a first-timer in the competition, Sinclair didn’t know what to expect. Even his wildest expectations didn’t include carrying off the National Award for the Resene New Home $300,00 - $400,000 on his first year entering.
Sinclair says it’s a great category to win because so many New Zealand new builds fall into that price bracket. Given time to absorb his win, Sinclair believes the judges saw the points of difference in the Bishopsworth Street house which have brought that project so close to his heart. While it contains everything you’d expect in a modern home, with an owner into biking and hunting its overall feel is more masculine country lodge than family roost.
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Its owner’s specifications were not those of your average couple or family, and the resulting pad is a bachelor’s dream. Sinclair Builders began working on this project earlier than most. With the owner bogged down in the process of settling both the EQC and insurance claims on the original house, Sinclair Builders stepped up at that point to gain traction and a positive outcome for the owner. The initial ideas were put together by the owner’s brother who happens to be an architect in Auckland. The ideas were developed and finalised to building consent application stage by DSC Group. The design came together easily because the owner was hands-on from the beginning and knew what he wanted. Already au fait with products on the market, the owner wasn’t bamboozled by the options, which streamlined the ‘choosing’ phase of the process. Van Gogh said, “It is a pity that, as one gradually gains experience, one loses one’s youth”. Had Van Gogh lived to meet Chris Sinclair, he would have had to eat his words before he cut off his ear. At only 32, Chris has been in the building trade since he left school at 16 to “do his time” with an excellent
With an owner into biking and hunting its overall feel is more masculine country lodge than family roost.
local company. Sinclair’s first own building company was in Australia where business boomed, but a need to choose a place to settle lured him back across the Tasman. He founded Sinclair Builders in Christchurch in 2009 at a time when the effects of the Global Financial Crisis were still being felt. Sinclair Builders established a good reputation locally, mostly focused on smaller projects. However, the Canterbury earthquake sequence changed everything. The project management teams working for insurers and EQC implemented an accreditation process and preferred to work with companies that could handle higher volumes.
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Therefore, with the options on the table being to ‘stick or twist’, Sinclair Builders opted to twist, ramping up the operation to meet demand and are pleased with the outcome of that decision. A point of difference Sinclair is proud of is that as an owner-builder, he works with clients from the start to the finish, as opposed to the ‘sign ‘em up and hand ‘em over’ approach that people can unwittingly find themselves with. Sinclair Builders provides a very full specification list to clients from the start. Rather than sending clients out “cold” to find their own way through the bewildering mass of fixtures and fittings available, Sinclair provides a list of quality fittings at a median price. Right down the toilet roll holder, clients can go out to the suppliers armed with good information in the middle range and can adjust upwards or downwards in price from there. Sinclair Builder’s contracts are scrupulous in ensuring clarity around what is and is not included in the total contract price. From consents, to fences, to driveway mesh to that toilet roll holder, Sinclair is passionate about inexperienced clients avoiding nasty surprises about extra costs. As for the future, Sinclair is not letting his glamour wins see bread and butter jobs go unattended. He is still happy to
As an owner-builder, Chris Sinclair works with clients from the start to the finish. take on the smaller jobs, be it replacing weather boards or bathrooms (or building trophy cabinets). Indeed, it is this attitude that has bred success. Sinclair cites the case of agreeing to a job removing lathe and plaster ceilings in a renovation, a hard sell for any homeowner in this market, which led on to four new builds for that owner and two for her friends! Rest assured, 2017 won’t find Sinclair sitting on his House of the Year laurels. He is already eyeing up next year’s competition and thinking about how he can assist in the rebuild for North Canterbury.
DesignNZ has been working with Sinclair Builders for a number of years, providing them with inspired architectural designs. DesignNZ provides both residential and commercial designs, working closely with Chris Sinclair and his clients to achieve award winning results. Congratulations Chris and the team, on winning Master Build House of the Year. Phone: (03) 310 0272
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Website: www.designNZ. CANTERBURY CANTERBURYBUILD BUILDJANUARY JANUARY2017 201733 33
Landmark restoration key to city’s identity
With so much construction happening in the city, Christchurch residents and visitors could be forgiven for overlooking what is arguably the most important project currently underway.
“T
here’s a lot happening,” says Hawkins’ Paul Youngman, project manager of the Christchurch Town Hall restoration. “Technically, it’s one of the most challenging I’ve had to do. As project manager, all roads lead back to me – good and bad,” he says with a smile. Though he admits there has been very little bad. Halfway into the three-year schedule, “the ground improvement is now finished”, Youngman says. And, after some significant earthquakes north of
Christchurch recently, “it’s worked out very, very well”. There has been no movement of the building and “we certainly haven’t had any liquefaction”, which was a significant problem for the Town Hall after the 2011 earthquakes, Youngman says. Much has been said about the ground improvement process of jet grouting, a technique used to strengthen the foundations of the building and so avoid any movement underground during future seismic events. Thirty thousand
By Peter Walker
cubic metres of concrete have created more than a thousand columns up to eight metres deep into the ground to support the entire complex. Now that’s finished, Youngman says, they are taking out the 150mm slab that was extensively damaged and, “increasing it to a 900mm deep raft slab”.
Photography: Three Chairs
“There’s 450 cubic metres going in soon – we’ve put over a hundred tons of reinforcing to date, and massive amounts of concrete. New rooves are going on all around the building, new glass and there’s a lot of deconstruction. “So, yes. There’s a lot happening right now.”
“The earthquakes took a lot of that away from us. Which is why it’s so important that the Town Hall is being restored.”
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Opened in 1972, the landmark Christchurch Town Hall was designed by acclaimed architects Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney, and is considered the benchmark by which other civic buildings are measured. Not only was the auditorium a breakthrough in architectural design, but the acoustics, engineered by Sir Harold Marshall, have been internationally applauded by some of the world’s great musicians such as Leonard Bernstein and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. For 40 years, the Town Hall was the heart of the city’s cultural and entertainment enterprise. Few people from Christchurch do not have a memory of some event in its auditorium – a concert, a graduation, or any number of civic functions. In the February 2011 earthquake, however, those activities ceased. Liquefaction and the lateral spreading of the ground under the complex severely damaged the building and closed it. When the Christchurch City Council announced in June 2015 that they had approved the $127 million restoration plan, the city rejoiced. Few other buildings sit so central to the ethos of the city. The Town Hall, like some other buildings now gone from the landscape, is deeply connected to the memories of the city’s inhabitants. Ryan Reynolds, co-founder and co-director of Gap Filler, says, “In the earthquakes we lost a lot of our sense of identity as a city.” Gap Filler HQ, a small building on The Commons, sits in the shadow of the Town Hall. “Personally, and I would say organisationally, we’re thrilled that the Town Hall is being restored.” Reynolds has been in Christchurch for 16 years, “Long enough to have been
“The idea of good restoration of heritage buildings is to not see the footprint.” to some great concerts there. I’ve had a graduation ceremony there.” A big part of what Gap Filler has been doing in the city for the last six years, Reynolds says, “is both recreating and fostering a sense of identity, and the importance and value of social memory.” “The earthquakes took a lot of that away from us. A lot of what was a shared space, a social space, has gone,” he says. “That heavily impacts a lot of social memory, which is why it’s so important that the Town Hall is being restored.” For the past 15 months, De Nada Creative photographer Olivia Spencer-Bower has been telling the project’s story through her award-
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winning photographs and time-lapse photography. “A lot of changes the public will never see,” she says. “That’s why it’s important to document these progressions.” The next major progression? For Youngman, “It’s replacing the columns the upper part of the building is sitting on, and lowering and levelling the Limes room. That’s early 2017. “After that, in the James Hay Theatre, we’re replacing a wall and the fly tower roof. That has some technical difficulties but we know where we’re going with it. From an architectural point of view,” says Simon Laurie, project lead for Warren and Mahony, “for the last year and a half we’ve been very much in the ground, very structural
orientated, but now were starting to talk about the finishes and fixtures.” In the finished environment, Boaters Restaurant will be rebuilt and refurbished, and the complex will look very familiar. “There will be some changes,” Laurie says. “There’s going to be a glass lift, a new link bridge. They’re different materials to what was there before so they’re clearly defined as new things.” Should Cantabrians be expecting a wow factor in the restoration? “The idea of good restoration of heritage buildings,” Youngman says, “is to not see the footprint. The wow factor will be that the complex will look very much as it did before.” Scheduled for completion in mid2018, the Christchurch Town Hall restoration project is well placed to come in on time and on budget. One of New Zealand’s most important landmarks will have a new life, and the opportunity to create a new generation of memories.
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Feature - Tonkin & Taylor - PWC Building juxtaposition between the sleek new build and the West End brand. “It’s fantastic the way this has evolved from a thought and then into a real thing, this beautiful area has enjoyed a vibrant and diverse history both before and after European settlement.” Harrow says that the PwC Centre is built to 130 per cent of the current building code (IL3). “The building comprises a structural steel frame with an eye-catching façade providing truly “A” grade office accommodation.
$60m build aT THe HearT of new urban idenTiTy
“This beautiful area has enjoyed a vibrant and diverse history both before and after European settlement.”
As the Christchurch rebuild moves into its seventh year, a bold new commercial identity is emerging. As professional services, bustling cafés, bars and restaurants jostle for space just west of the Avon River between Cambridge Terrace and Hagley Park, the space is developing a reputation as the city’s new central business district.
K
nown as the ‘West End’ for nearly a century from 1850, the long-lost name has been rediscovered as the central city district again comes to life. Over half of the buildings in the area now are post-earthquake productions – their futuristic steel and glass facades reflecting and shimmering equally with the contemporary materials as from the security of an updated Building Code. At the heart of this new urban identity
36 CANTERBURY BUILD JANUARY 2017
is the PwC Centre, a striking $60m new build at 56-64 Cashel Street which is defined by the banks of the Avon River and its relationship with the Bridge of Remembrance. Constructed by Armitage Williams Construction, the building is Bridgewater Properties Ltd’s latest project and houses nine corporate tenants as well as one cafe. The five storey, 11,000 square metre
building was designed by internationally renowned and local architecture practice Warren and Mahoney, whose team drew inspiration from Te Papa Otakaro (the Avon River Precinct) and its surrounding trees to create a finished product which is an innovative, lightweight and striking feature for the central city. Bridgewater Properties Ltd Director Ben Harrow is proud of the
“High ceilings give a feeling of space while providing excellent natural light during the day. This connects those who work in The PwC Centre with the city and provides opportunities for high calibre entertaining and presentation areas.” Prime Minister John Key opened the building in early December, and was joined by the Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and the Minister supporting the Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Gerry Brownlee.
TENANCY MIX REFLECTS BUILDING QUALITY Amongst those facilities are the new Christchurch offices of Tonkin and Taylor. The company is New Zealand’s leading environmental and engineering consultancy, with offices in New Zealand and Australia. Tonkin and Taylor’s Christchurch office was in Kilmore Street for some 20 years before the February 22nd earthquake struck and they had to move to temporary premises in Wigram, before moving into new offices in the PwC Centre in October 2016. From the third level of the new building, the company has an amazing
“We are proud to be one of the early starters to experience and lead the CBD’s charge back to life.” view of the Re:Start mall, lots of natural light, lots of space and lots of places for staff to walk, run and bike. “We’re surrounded by a bunch of other businesses who’re as excited as we are about being part of Canterbury’s strong and vibrant future,” Tonkin and Taylor’s Peter Cochrane says. “We love the West End concept for the area and are very proud to be one of the early starters to experience and lead the CBD’s charge back to life.” The PwC Centre, designed by Warren & Mahoney Architects, has taken three years to complete. It is a unique landmark in the rapidly rebuilding city and is noticeable both day and night in Christchurch’s new business district. It’s also a strong building – designed to 130 per cent of the current building code (IL3). In terms of quality and amenity, the building sets the standard for the future of commercial building. There are five levels of high quality office space with a generous lobby and ground floor retail/ hospitality. Onsite car parking is located on ground level and first floor along with another on grade car park within 80 metres of the building. Its outlook onto the Avon River directly opposite the Bridge of Remembrance and Retail Precinct gives it a fantastic profile. The tenant mix reflects the building’s quality, with Tonkin and Taylor amongst such names as PwC, Chapman Tripp, Crombie Lockwood, Ruamoko Solutions, Air New Zealand and Perception PR and Marketing.
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Feature - Tonkin & Taylor - PWC Building
NEW PREMISES REPRESENTS CANTERBURY CONFIDENCE The Tonkin and Taylor team – which has contributed advice on most of the city’s Anchor Projects, including the Hagley Oval – was, and still is, in a somewhat unique position in that they experience earthquakes on both a personal and professional level. For many of the company’s geotechnical engineers and geologists, the 2010/2011 earthquakes were living and breathing reasons for their choice of career. But at the same time, they were major disruptors to their own health and wellbeing and that of their families, colleagues and communities. And although the teams of experts within the company have committed their careers to understanding seismic risks and mitigation, there’s not a soul whose heart doesn’t stop – at least for a second – to register an unexpected roll or jolt. In fact, just one week after the company’s move to the new premises, North Canterbury was hit by the latest slew of quakes. Their impact on the South Island’s east coast towns and geographies is a sharp reminder of how far Canterbury has come in the last five years. Images of huge rockfalls and landslides, along with people and stranded cows under intense and lifechanging stress, reminded us all of how
“This move simply reinforces our confidence in the Christchurch rebuild and the city’s future.” quickly things can change. “It’s with all this in mind that we’re feeling grateful to be where we are right now,” Cochrane says of the new premises. “We’ve remained committed to the central business district and this move simply reinforces our confidence in the Christchurch rebuild and the
city’s future. It also demonstrates that we are determined to play a role in Christchurch long term and we’re actively supporting its regeneration. “Our business has grown, our knowledge and understanding has increased, we’re in a safe, beautiful building and looking forward to a great future.”
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