Source: Radio New Zealand
Christ Church Cathedral Dean Ben Truman inside the cathedral. RNZ/Rachel Graham
The Christ Church Cathedral Dean is delighted by the Christchurch mayor’s suggestion that the city council should contribute millions of dollars more to the earthquake-damaged building’s restoration.
Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd, which is managing the rebuild, mothballed the project in 2024 because of a $85 million funding shortfall.
The cost to rebuild the earthquake-damaged building had blown out to $248 million, before being revised down to $219m in 2024, leaving a shortfall of about $85m.
The group leading the rebuild, Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd, currently plans to do the reinstatement work in stages to reduce the initial costs.
Christchurch City Council is about to start work on plans to upgrade Cathedral Square, with the council seeking expressions of interest.
On Thursday mayor Phil Mauger told Newstalk ZB that he felt the $28.5 million budgeted for the Cathedral Square project was too much money and around half could go towards restoring the Anglican cathedral because, “we’ve got to get our centre back”.
Mauger was unavailable for interview on Friday.
Cathedral Dean Ben Truman said the mayor’s suggestion was pragmatic.
“I think what Phil’s comment shows is we can’t have a fully functional square until we have a fully functional cathedral. This really has to be the priority to open up the square and bring people back into the centre of the city,” he said.
Christchurch was undergoing a renaissance but the square was lagging behind, Truman said.
“We have Turanga, we have Te Pae, the new court theatre, but the square still doesn’t feel fully alive. We want to be part of getting that solution to get that back up and running.” he said.
The cathedral is holding another series of building tours from 13-15 March. RNZ/Rachel Graham
Truman said developers were halfway through the process of reopening the cathedral, with $24m from private donors and a promise of $20m from the Anglican church, leaving a shortfall of $40 to 45 million.
“Every little bit helps and the council has been a wonderful partner to us in the past and we look forward to working with them in the future,” he said.
In a statement, a council spokesperson said Mauger was keen to hear from the public about the city’s iconic buildings, including the cathedral, as part of the council’s draft annual plan.
The cathedral is holding another series of building tours from 13-15 March.
Around 12,000 people have taken part in the tours, which have been running for the past couple of years.
Truman said the free tours were fully booked, with 900 people in hi-vis and hard hats expected through the cathedral.
Visitors would see the recreated stained glass rose window and hear bird song designed to reflect the environment when work started on the cathedral in 1864.
Truman said the tours’ popularity demonstrated how important the building was to the people of Christchurch.
“People love this building, it’s part of our history, part of our story, part of our identity and part of our hope for the future of Christchurch,” he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
