Christ’s College fights city over $50m heritage block

Saturday, 9 September 2023

Some of the properties on the 1.5 hectares owned by Christ’s College opposite its school campus. The house pictured front centre has a heritage listing, and the city council wants to extend protection to the buildings around it.

Christ’s College is fighting a heritage rezoning that would restrict development options for land it owns opposite its school, worth almost $50 million.

The Anglican boys’ school owns 1.5 hectares of land over 13 adjacent sites, most containing houses, on Armagh St, Gloucester St and Rolleston Ave in central Christchurch.

The school is unhappy its portfolio is included in the Christchurch City Council’s proposed inner city west heritage area, exempting it from rules that would otherwise permit high density development up to 10 storeys high.

An aerial image of Christ’s College land (bordered in red) on the east side of Rolleston Ave.

The council says the chosen heritage areas, of which there are 11 across the city, have “collectively significant“ buildings, features and a coherent history.

The Christ’s College land included is dotted with grand old homes, and is the near the protected buildings of the school itself, Canterbury Museum, and the Arts Centre.

The land, with a total rating valuation of $48.4m, takes up over half of one city block and a corner piece of a second block.

This house Armagh St house owned by Christ’s College is one of those at the centre of a heritage debate.

Last year, the exclusive private school received Christchurch City Council approval to demolish all its buildings opposite the school site “to ground level” before 2027. Excluded from potential demolition are two late 19th-century houses protected by heritage listings, both on Rolleston Ave corner sites.

The school has now made a submission to the council, opposing the inclusion of its land in a heritage neighbourhood.

Mealtime at Christ’s College. The school owns a portfolio of properties across the road from its campus.

Heritage neighbourhoods would only allow medium-density housing up to three storeys high, and require resource consents for demolitions, new buildings, and additions and alterations.

The council proposal is designed to protect selected areas from upcoming housing intensification rules changes to its district plan, as required by the Government.

Medium density land is less valuable than high density land because it cannot be so intensively developed.

The Christ’s College campus itself has an educational zoning, which will not change.

Christ’s College is one of a list of property owners who have objected to being included in a heritage area. Most others have single sites.

Flowers House and the timber house next door are among the Rolleston Ave properties owned and used by Christ’s College.

Christ College’s submission to the council says the school is “generally supportive” of the plan’s management of historic and heritage sites, but does not want its properties included.

Among current uses for the buildings on the east side of Rolleston Ave are school administration, boarding and dayboy houses, and accommodation for housemasters and staff.

The school says it is growing, and “given the significant development constraints at the main campus” due to heritage buildings and river setbacks, future development to improve facilities and accommodate more students would likely be on the school’s land on the eastern side of Rolleston Ave.

Christ's College board of governors chairperson Hugh Lindo.

The school has a 4-hectare campus for its buildings and sports fields, plus additional playing fields in South Hagley Park next door that cover another 4ha.

The chairperson of the school’s board, Hugh Lindo, declined to tell The Press whether the school wanted to redevelop the land directly for educational purposes, or as an investment, or a combination of both.

“We have no immediate plans to develop the remaining sites we own but we do want flexibility further down the track,” he said.

The entry to Christ's College on Rolleston Ave.

“Any future plans would be solely for our expanding educational needs and would be designed to complement the surrounding environment.”

The school’s submission to the council said any planning constraints on its lane east of Rolleston Ave would “inhibit the development and growth” of educational facilities.

It said there was “little cohesion or uniformity” among those buildings.

In an official response to the school’s submission, council planning staff said the school’s properties “make a significant contribution to the heritage values of the area” and excluding them would be inconsistent with the council’s heritage work.

The response also said the school seems to have adequately accommodated its “spillover” activities from its main campus, without the need for major redevelopments so far.

The council’s consideration of its intensification proposal, including the boundaries of heritage areas, is ongoing.