Fancy plans for Cathedral Square won't take shape for at least a decade

Friday, 18 January 2019

Regenerate Christchurch's finalised concept plans for Cathedral Square. (Video first published in June 2018)

Bold new designs for Cathedral Square might not become reality for at least a decade.

Public rebuild planning agency Regenerate Christchurch released its vision for the broken heart of the Garden City in September, developed at a cost of $1 million.

Designs featured a lattice-style overhead shelter, mixed paved and tree-studded green spaces and a $60m to $80m cost estimate – but no clear indication of where the money would come from to realise them.

Laws giving the Christ Church Cathedral rebuild priority for 15 years could prove problematic for the square project, private square interests say.

City councillor Deon Swiggs said he was 'absolutely frustrated' comparing Regenerate's vision with the reality of the council budget.

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'My biggest annoyance is that this great plan that sets a whole lot of expectations up will be left on a shelf, that's not going to be used, because we don't have the money for it.

Locals and visitors in Cathedral Square this week.

'It's really a systemic issue that's happened right throughout the rebuild. You get all these grandiose plans without the reality of how much it's actually going to cost.'

A delivery strategy for Regenerate's plan lead by the Christchurch City Council is the next step, but any action outside a $3.6m spruce up approved in September appears unlikely.

Rabbits, pigeons and stray cats have taken up residence in the damaged Cathedral Square.

Council head of urban design, regeneration and heritage, Carolyn Ingles said the staff's advice was that any wider redevelopment work would 'not be appropriate' until restoration of Christ Church Cathedral was finished.

The Anglican church has indicated this could take up to 10 years. New laws allow the church to close off any public areas of the Square for storage and restoration for the project for up to 15 years.

Christ Church Cathedral in Christchurch's Cathedral Square. This image was taken from the crane on the Convention Centre site.

Ingles said the impact of this on the Square was not known.

In its long-term plan, council has budgeted $9.44m for redeveloping the Square, of which half will come from the Crown under the rebuild cost-sharing agreement.

Restoration of Christ Church Cathedral will take a decade.

Of this, $3.6m was set aside to tidy three areas. Paving has been re-levelled and seating tidied outside the new Tūranga library, while work this year will improve paving and lighting in the southeast corner of the Square in front of the OGB building and Distinction Hotel, and at the southern end by the Spark and Aotea gifts buildings now under construction.

Ingles said planning for this would be done in the next few months, followed by work in the second half of this year.

The Square with Tūranga library at left.

She said where appropriate, the council would consider including elements of Regenerate's vision, 'but only where achievable within the scope and budget for the project'.

Swiggs said they needed to consider 'what can we do now, what can we do in one or two or three years time, and what is the long-term 30-year vision … and actually be really clear on what we can deliver and what we can't deliver'.

'But we haven't done that with the Square.'

Central City Business Association manager Paul Londsale said the redevelopment plan had been well received, and patching up parts of the Square instead of incorporating some of the new designs was short sighted.

'I know they [council] have got a tough budget. But they seem to find budget for lots of other things.'

He said it was wasteful for workers to be 'lifting pavers and then putting them down again', as had been done outside Tūranga.

As an anchor project, the Square redevelopment was intended to stimulate private sector investment but that was not happening, Lonsdale said.

'Why spend a lot of money on the planning, with all the cultural and public communication, to get to this point, only to short-change that vision?'

Lonsdale said that in 10 years when the Cathedral was finished, the consultation and planning would probably need to be done over again.

A spokesman for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said the next steps on the Cathedral Square plan were being led by council. Restoring the cathedral would take time so work on the Square would need to be co-ordinated with that, the spokesman said.

Regenerate Christchurch did not respond to a request for comment.

Ernest Duval, City Owners Rebuild Entity chairman and owner of the Cathedral Junction precinct just east of the Square, said delaying the work was 'probably not a bad thing', and the council would have a better idea of what was needed when the convention centre, cathedral and commercial buildings were finished.

'The council could then use put those resources it had set aside towards other projects,' he said.