When will Christ Church Cathedral and Square be rebuilt?

By Eva Kershaw of Frank Film

It's a story that does not retire. Since the Canterbury earthquakes, the future of Christ Church Cathedral and the surrounding Square has occupied hundreds of newspaper columns, and every camp has expressed their views.

Fourteen years on from the quakes, as the cost to rebuild the Cathedral has ballooned to $219 million, leaving an $85m gap in funding, the reinstatement project is at a stalemate.

As well, a now seven-year-old plan redesigning Cathedral Square has not been implemented.

Many would say it's time to accept defeat and demolish the Cathedral completely.

But with the $85m already spent on the Cathedral rebuild, chair of Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd (CCRL) Mark Stewart said it was too late for that.

"You can't go forward, you can't go back," Stewart tells Frank Film.

The city was preparing to open a $683m first-class stadium next year.

"We're basically showcasing Christchurch as a new city," Stewart said.

"But yet this [Cathedral] sort of has 'shame' written all over it because we haven't funded it enough."

The Stewart family was among the wealthiest in Canterbury, and alongside donating two bells to the Cathedral in the 1970s, they had been the top donors to the Cathedral reinstatement project.

When asked if he could fund the shortfall himself, Stewart said he's "not prepared to entertain that".

"I am the largest donor. I'm giving all of my time to this project. Just to write a cheque and give Christchurch the benefit of it... We're all in this boat together."

Stewart said the people of Christchurch had forgotten how important the Cathedral and Cathedral Square were to the city's civic activity.

There were people, however, who wanted to restore the space as the heart of the city.

Last April, when the government declined to provide an additional $60m (on top of $25m granted already) for the re-build, Finance Minister Nicola Willis reasoned it was "a project that is not owned by the public, and where public use would be limited due to the cathedral being a private, religious space".

"It's very easy to just label it as a religious building," Stewart said.

"It's actually a civic building, even though it's owned by the Anglican Church... It was used extensively prior to the earthquakes for things other than religious ceremonies.

"We've even been demonstrating in recent times how we can use this space for other community activities."

CCRL project director Carolyne Grant is committed to keeping the Cathedral alive inside.

Having secured a certificate of public use from the council, which allowed groups of 50 people to enter at a time, Grant had taken people through the Cathedral doors for concerts and exhibitions.

Outside in the Square, veteran urban planner James Lunday longed to see people using the space again.

Lunday was employed to produce the Regenerate plan for Cathedral Square in 2017.

This plan reshaped the Square into separate areas designed for diverse activities; featuring a green space, a covered market area, an outdoor concert venue and an existing underground stream resurfaced.

"Remember that before the earthquake, the Square wasn't working either," Lunday said.

The opening of malls throughout Christchurch in the 1960's had finished the "all roads lead to the Square" plans of the city forefathers.

No longer did the Square boast half a dozen movie theatres, nor gain the foot traffic once attracted by the bus stops, which were removed in 2000.

"This [plan] was an opportunity to get it to work again," Lunday said.

The Regenerate plan was never implemented by Christchurch City Council.

While Lunday said it wasn't about defending a design that was done in the past, he worried there was no proper plan for Cathedral Square.

"They're just doing ad-hoc repairs on pavement around the edges of the Square. There's no major inventive and creative moves."

General manager for city infrastructure Brent Smith said the council was working with multiple developers "as they develop around the Square".

Smith said Christchurch City Council had a budget for the Square in the Long-Term Plan but he could not recall how much.

Council chief executive Mary Richardson said the council wanted the Square to become the heart of the city again.

"So, while it's important to work in with the developers, it's also for the people of Christchurch."

How to move forward?

Stewart said a clear solution required the church, council, and central government to work together.

"Right now everybody is pointing at each other saying 'It's your problem to solve'.

"It's just not right for Christchurch to leave this structure in existence, in perpetuity, as it stands," Stewart said.

"We have to finish it in some way, so without that support from the authorities, then we're just not going to get there."

As for Cathedral Square, time will tell whether the bustling crowds of the past return.

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