SUNDAY SESSIONS BACK ON

The former Trinity Congregational Church and Christchurch’s oldest surviving colonial building, Shand’s Emporium, are to gain new life as a microbrewery, an authentic Irish pub and more.

The buildings, on the corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets, are being leased from the Christchurch Heritage Trust (CHT) by the Inkster Company.

It plans to develop Grimstone Treacle Emporium upstairs in Shand’s, and a small Irish pub downstairs. A microbrewery will be built at the site of the old Trinity church.

The former church, designed by Benjamin Woolfi eld Mountfort, was opened in 1875 and is the oldest masonry structure in central Christchurch.

Both buildings have Category 1 heritage listings. Trinity Church and Shand’s Emporium were only weeks away from demolition when the Christchurch Heritage Trust purchased them in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Shand’s Emporium, which was purchased for $1, was relocated from Hereford Street to its current site in 2015.

“The two buildings are a tribute to their strong and indomitable character and a reminder to us of their roles as a portal to the past,” says Trust Chair Dame Anna Crighton.

A community loan of $1.2 million from the Christchurch City Council has been essential for fi nishing the restoration.

“Before this loan, we were in a conundrum. We were unable to get a tenant without the restoration fi nished, but didn’t have the funds to fi nish the job,” says Dame Anna.

“We are honoured with the confi dence the council has placed in the Trust and operator to deliver an exceptional outcome for the city. It shows locals and visitors the pride our city has in its history, and how important it is to see our heritage adding to the vibrancy of the city while being commercially sustainable.” The Christchurch Heritage Trust was formed in 1996 to promote the permanent preservation, enhancement, renovation and re-development of heritage and historic buildings, places and objects in the Christchurch metropolitan area.

Kate Sheppard taught Sunday school at Trinity in the 1880s and worshipped there as did Henry James Nicholas, the only Cantabrian to receive the Victoria Cross in the First World War. He was killed just days before the end of the war.

Shand’s is the last surviving colonial commercial building in Christchurch’s central business district, and was built by Liverpool merchant John Shand, 10 years after the fi rst English immigrants arrived in the Canterbury settlement.

Shand’s withstood the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Its subsequent neglect prompted the Christchurch Heritage Trust to step in to rescue it. Purchased for $1, it was moved to its new site.

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Expert team, happy clients

Cordial Homes is bringing freshness and innovation to the construction market in Christchurch - an exciting step forward for a business sector which can sometimes feel a bit carbon-copy. Directors Hardik Patel and Jason Williams bring a staggering array of skills and experience to their business, which leads to a standout and unique company profi le, and has resulted in many happy clients in a short space of time.

Hardik is a qualifi ed and experienced engineer and if that wasn’t enough to bring to the table, he returned to academia to study fi nance and project management. Jason is a licensed building practitioner, a professional in the trade for more than 20 years with detailed knowledge of the latest building techniques.

The pair began working in commercial fi touts before o ers to build homes began to roll in. “We build everything from fi rst homes to mid-range to very high spec architectural homes,” says Hardik.

There is an incredible amount of service on o er. Hardik says “My qualifi cations and skills allow clients to get more than they ever thought for their budget.” Hardik is able to analyse existing plans to see where reconfi guration might lead to a more spacious and usable fl oor plan. He can redesign roof profi les to make them more attractive, and recreate details to make them more e ective and cost less. “I have a fl air for design, plus my engineering and fi nance qualifi cations mean that clients are amazed at the home they get compared to the home they thought they would have to settle for,” says Hardik.

The team is also delighted to work with people who haven’t begun to plan. “I love to start from scratch with clients too,” says Hardik, “I talk to them about their life and their hopes for a home, and go from there to a completely custom-built home.”

A conversation with Hardik generally results in a hand sketched outline of a home with signifi cant details marked in, which then goes to the team’s architect based in Queenstown for creation of consentable plans.

Both Jason and Hardik stand with clients every step of the building process. “We are the people that our clients ask questions to, and they get their answers on the spot because we have the information and experience.” They fi nd that this lends a huge amount of confi dence to clients. “At every stage we are explaining what is happening - clients get as much of the detail as they wish to hear, and our whole approach is solutions-focused,” says Hardik.

The future is looking fantastic for Cordial Homes, “Apart from working with Metropol we haven’t had to advertise at all, word of mouth has meant that clients have come to us. Visit Cordial Homes at the website below.