An overview of completed and under-construction projects in Christchurch
Completed – October 2011. Re:START by The Buchan Group, Cashel Mall. This project features 70 containers and 27 tenants and was installed over just a few months.
Completed – October 2011. Contemporary Lounge at Ballantynes by The Buchan Group, Cashel Street. This project was fast-tracked to build 12 joined containers.
Completed – January 2012. Avonside Girls High School by Opus Architecture, 180 Avonside Drive. 62 new modular teaching spaces were urgently required.
Completed – February 2012. HP building Dakota Park by Wilson & Hill, 46 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch Airport. This warehouse and office building has a steel frame with lightweight aluminium cladding and was the first designed by the practice under new building codes.
Completed – March 2011. 110 Wrights Road by Shepard & Rout Architects. A 1,586m2 commercial office building commissioned before the earthquakes and now occupied by the Department of Labour.
Completed – December 2011. The Shed by Fulton Ross Team Architects, end of Bernard Street, Addington. This new temporary theatre was built in a large former grain warehouse.
Completion date – 2014. Corner Victoria St & Bealey Ave by MAP Architecture. Retail, hospitality and office spaces replace three buildings lost in various earthquakes and have been designed to read as distinct structures with different facade treatments.
Completion date – 2013. Christchurch Botanic Gardens by Patterson Associates includes a cafe, information point, conference room, research library, laboratories, propagation greenhouses and working staff facilities in a modified commercial greenhouse structure.
Under construction. Rural Bank House Rebuild by Warren & Mahoney, 122 Gloucester St, Cathedral Square. This office and retail project could be the first Precast Seismic Structural Solution framed building in NZ, which uses precast beams and columns with high strength post-tensioned cables running through them.
Completion date – December 2012. Wigram Airforce Museum by Warren & Mahoney, 45 Harvard Ave, Wigram. The extension for a Display Gallery for Aircraft and Workshop Spaces will double the size of the museum. Visitors will be able to observe museum staff restoring aircraft.
Completion date – May 2012. UCSA Events Centre, University of Canterbury by Warren & Mahoney, 90 Ilam Road. The building aims to be the focus of student social life on campus.
Completion date – 2013. James Hight Building, University of Canterbury by Warren & Mahoney, 90 Ilam Road. Seismic strengthening and improvement work involves cleaning concrete and replacing windows with aluminium frames using a new system that is resistant to earthquakes.
Completion date – 2013. James Hight Undercroft, University of Canterbury by Warren & Mahoney, 90 Ilam Road. A new student lounge is already completed, featuring a double height space and colourful furniture. A food and beverage outlet is under construction and a retail zone is on the boards.
Partially opened 20 February 2012, fully open mid-April 2012. Barrington by The Buchan Group, corner of Barrington and Athelstan Streets. Expansion of an existing suburban retail mall including new amenities and parents’ room.
Completion date – September 2012. Rolleston Police Station by Opus Architecture, Rolleston. This project features polished concrete block work, weatherboard and river stone veneer. Designed to very high seismic design codes, the facility can remain operational in the event of an earthquake.
Completion date – March 2012. Christchurch Stadium by Populous, 95 Jack Hinton Drive. This multi-purpose temporary sports stadium will be Christchurch’s only outdoor venue for sporting and music events.
Completion date – November 2012. Commodore Hotel 20 Room addition by Wilson & Hill, 447 Memorial Avenue. The building meets the new structural code for Christchurch and went through a specialist seismic design analysis.
Completion date – December 2012. Harcourts/Grenadier building, 271 Madras Street, by MAP Architects. Ground floor retail and cafe with three floors of offices overlooking Latimer Square. Decorative glass screens and a clock salvaged from the original building animate the facade.
Completion date – December 2012. Christchurch Airport by Warren & Mahoney and HASSELL, 818 Wairakei Rd, Burnside. Replacing the existing domestic terminal is a major new world-class airport terminal.
Expected completion: December 2012. 112 Cashel Mall by MAP Architects. Retail on ground floor with dental surgery, accountancy office and apartments above. The building replaces a brick two-storey building that collapsed in the February earthquake. The landowner is keen to replicate the laneways found in Melbourne.
Completion date – December 2012. 134 Victoria Street by Shepard & Rout Architects. This retail and office project will be the first in the world to use an innovative post-tensioned timber frame system developed in Canterbury, which involves large cables that flex and shake in an earthquake before returning to their original form. Read more
Expected completion date – July 2013. Kilmore Street Medical Centre by Wilson and Hill Architects. A private hospital, consulting rooms and offices built to very high seismic tolerance with sustainable design elements.
819 Colombo Street by The Buchan Group. A new three-storey mixed-use building replaces the existing building irreparably damaged by the Canterbury earthquakes. It will house a double-height mezzanine restaurant in the ground floor, first-floor offices and second-floor residential space.
Completion date: early 2013. Blenheim Road Retail Development by The Buchan Group, 65 Blenheim Road. A contemporary building on a difficult site for Ngai Tahu Properties. It will house specialty retail with double-height and mezzanine spaces.
Completion date – March 2013. Three35 by Jasmax, 335 Lincoln Road, Addington. This commercial office precinct is in a rapidly changing area known as SoMo, or South of Moorhouse, where businesses displaced by the earthquake have settled. The complex is designed to new engineering codes and four-star Greenstar principles.
Completion date: June 2013. 83 Victoria Street by MAP Architects. Retail at ground floor and five floors of office space in the former Bell Furniture Store. Coloured glass or perspex panels break up the facade. Precast, load-bearing concrete frames on the ground floor, with steelwork above and a concrete shear core in the middle.
Completion date: late 2013. BDO Spicers site by MAP Architects. 140 Victoria Street. A ‘business campus’ with a shared central courtyard and green space. Retail and hospitality space at the front of the complex. Timber lattice screens enliven the glass facade.
Completion date – December 2012. 76 Victoria Street by MAP Architects. Retail, hospitality and three floors of office space with a basement car park. Replacement for a former furniture store demolished after the September earthquake.
Completion date – 2013. New Regent Street by Fulton Ross Team Architects. The historic New Regent Street shops were badly damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes. The shops will be restored and brought up to the new building code. About 30 landowners on the street have united to restore the street.
Completion – April 2013. The new Stranges Building by Sheppard & Rout Architects, Lichfield Street, High Street and Manchester Street. Featuring retail, hospitality and office spaces, with laneways, an internal courtyard and mezzanine retail, the design accentuates the triangular site on this prominent city centre site.
Staged opening commencing mid-April 2014. The Hub, Hornby by The Buchan Group, Cnr Main South Road and Carmen Road. A new large retail store, food court, amenities and parking to expand an existing retail mall. Chalmers Street will be realigned and landscaped and active retail frontages will connect the mall to its urban setting.
Corner of Colombo and Kilmore Street building by Thom Craig Architects and AMO. This mixed-use retail and office building features a modular design with a micro-pile foundation system that is quake-resistant and can be easily insured. A stainless steel metal mesh provides solar shading. The yellow box will be a boardroom.
RFK by Thom Craig Architects and AMO. Central city site within the four avenues. A modular design for a mixed-use retail and office building with a micro-pile foundation system. High levels of natural lighting with louvres and metal mesh for solar shading
Corner of St. Asaph and Madras Street by Thom Craig Architects and AMO. A modular mixed-use retail and office building with a micro-pile foundation system. A car stacker maximises space. The long facade is broken up with different facade treatments.
Corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Antigua Street by Thom Craig Architects and AMO. Mixed-use hospitality and gym, this modular design includes a drive-through fast-food outlet, offices, and courtyard hub.
Completion – late 2014. Cashel Mall Redevelopment by Sheppard & Rout Architects. Work will begin early next year on a new $70-million people-friendly, low-rise retail and office complex on the Cashel Mall site, formerly occupied by Shades Arcade, Whitcoulls and the old Weekly Press buildings.
Cathedral Square by Warren and Mahoney. A medium-rise commercial building that will replace the BNZ Building on the southern corner of Cathedral Square. Designed to achieve a 5-Star energy rating with advanced façades and chilled beam air conditioning, the building aims to create a gateway to the square.
Corner Armagh St and Durham St North by Chris Prebble Architects. This new mixed-use building includes retail/hospitality on the ground floor, three floors of office space and a boutique office space on the fourth floor. Green features include a green wall to the east.
Completion – late 2012. Carlton Hotel by Chris Prebble Architects, 1 Papanui Road. Replacement building for the Carlton Hotel site which has had a hotel on the site since 1865. The new design will be mixed use with retail/hospitality (main tenant being the Carlton Hotel) at ground level and boutique office space above.
Build date – late 2012. Manchester Street development by DD Architects, 174 Manchester Street. Multi-storey and commercial and retail complex.
Build date – late 2012. Armagh Street development ?by DD Architects, 152–158 Armagh Street. Multi-storey commercial and retail complex.
Completion date – June 2012. Cardboard Cathedral by Shigeru Ban, location unknown. A temporary cathedral for the Anglican diocese in Christchurch while they decide how to rebuild in Cathedral Square. The building will seat 700 people and is made from cardboard with a perspex sloping roof. One end of the A-framed building will be a large stained-glass window.
What will Christchurch look like in the future?
While a few buildings and temporary structures have been laid to ground since the earthquakes and the subsequent demolition of around 1,200 buildings, there are many more projects currently under construction and in development in Christchurch.
The slideshow above (with detailed image captions) provides an overview of an emerging city.
