Christchurch’s Cathedral Square set for potential $28m redesign

Thursday, 12 March 2026

The Christchurch City Council will go out to public consultation later this year with a concept design for Cathedral Square.

Christchurch’s Cathedral Square is about to be redesigned again, eight years after $1 million was spent developing the last plan, which was not fully enacted.

The city council is, this week, asking companies to express an interest in developing a new concept design for the square.

It is not saying how much the process will cost, but the council said it has $28.5m in the budget to enact an approved design.

At a briefing on Wednesday, some councillors questioned why the work was happening now when there was still so much uncertainty surrounding the Christ Church Cathedral rebuild and when there were other more important projects for the council to focus on.

Work on the square since the earthquakes has focused on improving the outer edges with upgraded footpaths, paving and landscaping.

This new work will focus on the middle of the square, which was last year described as a “wasteland” by a neighbouring building owner.

Once a design team is appointed, key stakeholders including surrounding developers and the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement company, will be asked for input before a proposed design is put out for public consultation later this year.

Council strategy, planning and regulatory general manager John Higgins said the new design would build on the previous work done by Regenerate Christchurch, the now defunct rebuild planning agency.

The Regenerate design cost about $1m to develop, took several years to develop and went through multiple consultation processes.

When it was finally released in 2018, it was expected to cost $60m to $80m and featured a lattice-style overhead shelter, no through traffic and mixed paved and tree-studded green spaces.

Councillor Aaron Keown said he did not think the council should spend a cent in the square until there was a funding commitment and confirmed time line for the cathedral to reopen.

The last Cathedral Square redesign was released in 2018 by the now defunct rebuild planning agency Regenerate Christchurch.

“Until that point, it just seems like an absolute waste of money.”

Council senior project manager Hannah Pirie said they were asking companies to come up with a design plan that could happen in stages, regardless of what was happening with the cathedral.

However, the physical work would be aligned with the opening of surrounding development projects.

Cathedral Square has been described as a wasteland by a neighbouring building owner.

Councillor Yani Johanson questioned why the council was looking at the project now when the square was in “pretty good condition” and asked why the design work could not be done in-house.

Higgins said quite a bit of the “nuts and bolts” work would be done in-house. It was just the conceptual work that was being outsourced.

Mayor Phil Mauger said developers had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into projects surrounding the square and it was essential they were consulted.

The 2018 design would have cost between $60m and $80m.

Pirie reassured the Mauger that staff were already talking to the developers, and pointed out that it was a civic space.

“The word civic is important here. It means everyone needs to have a say and that includes developers.”

She said the council needed to strike a balance between too little and too much public consultation.

Councillor Tim Scandrett said the city needed to figure out what it wanted to use the space for, and whether it wanted to hold events there.

“If we put green everywhere, it is dead as an events space.”

Councillor David Cartwright wanted to make sure cars would be taken into account in the redesign, because people would need to be able to access hotels within the square.

Higgins said people want the square to be an accessible, vibrant place to gather in the central city.