Christ Church Cathedral mothballing is complete

Monday, 16 December 2024

Work to restore Christ Church Cathedral will stop indefinitely over the course of the next three months.

Work to mothball Christ Church Cathedral has finished.

The scaffolding has gone and a 4-tonne temporary roof installed to ensure the building is weather tight. The last contractors left the central city site earlier this month.

In late August, Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Limited (CCRL), the charitable company managing the rebuild, decided to pause the project indefinitely after the Government turned down a request for more taxpayer money.

CCRL has an $85m funding shortfall to meet the forecast earthquake-repair and restoration cost of between $209m and $219m.

Work to mothball the Christ Church Cathedral has been completed.

However, the fences surrounding the site remain as does CCRL’s project office, which will be the base for its two remaining staff members.

The scaffolding has gone but the steel bracing remains.

CCRL is occupying about 1500m2 of public Cathedral Square land. It was leased to the church by the Christchurch City Council for $1 a year during restoration.

The council has yet to publicly discuss the future of the lease and whether it will insist on any or all of the leased land being returned.

The council is also considering the future of the ratepayer levy. Each rate-paying household has contributed $6.52 a year since 2018 to pay for the council’s $10m contribution toward the cathedral’s restoration. The levy was due to run until 2028, but the council is considering stopping it early.

It has already paid out $3m, but has another $5m collecting interest. Some councillors believe the money should be used to reduce the expected 8.93% rates increase from July 2025.

Despite the mothballing, the Anglican Church said it remained committed to reinstating the cathedral.

“While construction is paused, there has been no pause in work by CCRL to find solutions that will see the project completed,” a spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, CCRL chairman Mark Stewart reiterated the company’s continued endeavours as careful custodians of the cathedral now that the heritage fabric has been secured and protected.

The number of staff at CCRL has reduced from 5.8 full-time equivalent to 1.8.

“They are keeping funding conversations alive with Government, council and donors.”

Groups of up to 50 people have been able to visit inside the cathedral from December 3 until December 18, as a fundraiser for the City Mission. The daily tours have sold out.

Woolston Brass will also perform inside the cathedral on Monday at 6.45pm before moving outside and playing to the public until about 7.45pm.