Christchurch Cathedral demolition approved: The Church of England Newspaper, November 25, 2012 p 6. November 29, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christchurch Cathedral, Victoria Matthews
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A New Zealand court has turned back a legal challenge from an architectural preservation group that sought to block the demolition of earthquake-ravaged Christchurch Cathedral.
On 15 November the court rejected the petition of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust, which had asked the court to stop demolition as the Cathedral was protected by an act of Parliament and could not be torn down without government sanction.
However, Justice Lester Chisholm ruled the Cathedral could be demolished, if a new Cathedral was constructed in its place. “Unless the terms of the Cathedral trust are varied, either the structure that remains will have to be repaired or it will have to be replaced by another Cathedral.
“While there must be a cathedral on the site, it does not necessarily have to replicate the Cathedral as it stood before the earthquakes occurred,” the court held.’
In an email to members of her diocese, Bishop Victoria Matthews wrote: “We have permission to deconstruct the old Cathedral and build a new Cathedral in the Square, and we are expected to use reasonable speed in doing so.
“The major deciding point seems to be the difference between building a Cathedral on the present site versus re-constructing the present Cathedral on the present site,” she said, adding “it is a 200-paragraph decision and I will bring to your attention further details at a later time.”
On 22 February 2011 the city of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island was badly damaged by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The Cathedral’s tower collapsed and the walls and masonry were badly damaged, while the rose window above the altar was destroyed in a June aftershock.
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Christchurch Cathedral is coming down: Anglican Ink, November 15, 2012 November 15, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Anglican Ink.Tags: Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch earthquake, Victoria Matthews
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A New Zealand court has turned back a legal challenge from an architectural preservation group that sought to block the demolition of Christchurch Cathedral.
On 15 Nov 2012 the court rejected the petition of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust brought against the trustees of the property, the Church Property Trust (CPT) that argued the earthquake ravaged cathedral could not be torn down as it was protected by an act of Parliament that protected historic church buildings.
Justice Lester Chisholm held the cathedral could be demolished, if a new cathedral was constructed in its place. “Unless the terms of the Cathedral trust are varied, either the structure that remains will have to be repaired or it will have to be replaced by another Cathedral.”\
Read it all in Anglican Ink.
Christchurch Cathedral plans rejected: The Church of England Newspaper, August 12, 2012 p 6. August 16, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christchurch Cathedral, Diocese of Christchurch, Victoria Matthews
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The Bishop of Christchurch, the Rt Rev Victoria Matthews, has rejected as unsafe and expensive a proposal to rebuild the city’s earthquake-damaged cathedral.
Last week, Bishop Matthews said she was not persuaded by the arguments put forth by the Great Christchurch Building Trust that there were feasible alternatives to demolishing the cathedral and that it could be restored.
The difference in cost would “probably be about $15 million, and it’s very interesting in post-earthquake Christchurch we talk about millions like we once talked about hundreds. But when you think about $15 million it could do a great deal of good in other places,” the Bishop said.
No decision had yet been made on the final design of the new cathedral, Bishop Matthews said, but it would not be a replica or a radical departure in style from the Gothic cathedral but a reconstruction.
On 22 February 2011 the city of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island was badly damaged by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The cathedral’s tower collapsed and the walls and masonry were badly damaged, while the rose window above the altar was destroyed in a June aftershock.
At a 28 October press conference the Bishop and Dean announced the cathedral would be deconsecrated in preparation for rebuilding. Bishop Matthews said the new cathedral would never look “exactly as it used to”, but would be a “mix of old and new”.
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Cardboard cathedral under construction in Christchurch: The Church of England Newspaper, May 13, 2012 p 7. May 21, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christchurch Cathedral, Diocese of Christchurch, Victoria Matthews
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An artists rendition of the cardboard cathedral. Photo: Christchurch Cathedral
Construction has begun on Christchurch’s “cardboard cathedral” – a transitional A-frame church built from 104 tubes of cardboard.
On 22 April 2012 a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Christchurch on the site of the new cathedral. “It’s a time of celebration and joy and we are full of hope,” Bishop Victoria Matthews told the congregation.
Expected to cast in excess of £2.75 million, the 700 seat church replaces the city’s Gothic cathedral which was heavily damaged in the 22 Feb 2011 earthquake. Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, the building has life expectancy of at least 20 years – and will house the cathedral congregation for the next ten years while a permanent replacement is built.
“Christchurch is moving forward,” the chairman of the cathedral’s rebuilding campaign, Richard Gray, said. The eco-friendly cathedral demonstrated that “people are finding solutions that are not only innovative but environment-friendly,” he added.
The phased demolition of the old cathedral has prompted protests from civil activists, however. On 26 April 2012 Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee stated that all the papers held by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) would be released to the public.
Preservationists have challenged the diocese’s plans to demolish the cathedral and have called for the church to be rebuilt. Mr. Brownlee said there was a “range of views on the very difficult decision the Anglican Church has made about the future of its cathedral, and given the significance of the building this issue is of huge concern to many people in the community.”
However, a “demolition permit has been issued to deal with the dangerously unstable tower and further permits will be issued to partially deconstruct the building,” the minister said. Construction on the cardboard cathedral is expected to be completed by Christmas 2012.
Christchurch Cathedral to be demolished: The Church of England Newspaper, March 9, 2012, p 7. March 15, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christchurch Cathedral, Diocese of Christchurch, earthquake, Victoria Matthews
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The Diocese of Christchurch in New Zealand reports that it will level its earthquake ravaged cathedral, bringing its walls down to a height of two to three meters. However, Bishop Victoria Matthews announced that the cathedral’s footprint would remain untouched and no wrecking balls would be used in the demolition.
Speaking to the press on 2 March 2012, Bishop Matthews said that safety and cost considerations were driving the diocese’s plans. “This is now a very dangerous building that needs to be made safe,” she told reporters, adding that the top priority was to “ensure people working on-site are safe.”
It is not feasible to rebuild the cathedral as it was, she said. “Currently, the Church Property Trust has estimated a $20-$30 million shortfall over the whole Anglican Diocese, which does not include the potential cost of any future damage.”
“In regard to the cathedral specifically, the sums are staggering,” the bishop said.
“A replica cathedral has been ruled out due to an estimated $100 million shortfall, while a new build incorporating some of the old would incur a shortfall of up to $50 million,” Bishop Matthews said.
“I am sad to have to relay this decision but I believe it is the way forward,” she added.
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Christchurch cathedral in media storm: The Church of England Newspaper, December 16, 2011 p 6. December 19, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christ Church Cathedral, Diocese of Christchurch, Peter Beck, Victoria Matthews
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Dean Beck and Bishop Matthews at the service of deconsecration
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Reports of the Bishop and Dean of Christchurch have fallen out over the future of the city’s earthquake ravaged cathedral are overblown, Bishop Victoria Matthews tells The Church of England Newspaper.
On 11 Dec 2011, the Press newspaper reported that relations between Bishop Matthews and Dean Peter Beck of Christ Church Cathedral “had become strained, to the point where Beck had taken advice from an employment lawyer.” It further stated the dean had announced on 7 Dec that he would be resigning after nine years in office to enter politics, running for a vacant seat on the Christchurch City Council.
The Press reported the bishop and dean “disagreed on the vexed and complex issue of what to do about the severely damaged cathedral” with the bishop favouring “demolishing the cathedral and building a new church, either on the same site or elsewhere” while the dean “wants to repair the cathedral and restore it to its former glory.”
On 22 Feb the city of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island was badly damaged by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The cathedral’s tower collapsed and the walls and masonry were badly damaged, while the rose window above the altar was destroyed in a June aftershock.
At a 28 Oct press conference the bishop and dean announced the cathedral would be deconsecrated in preparation for rebuilding. Bishop Matthews said the new cathedral would never look “exactly as it used to”, but would be a “mix of old and new”.
The demolition work would “gives us time to explore further options about what we’ll be doing to build a new cathedral – as the bishop says, a mix of old and new,” Dean Beck told reporters.
However, the Press reported relations have since soured. In a 9 Dec letter to the Press, a canon almoner at the cathedral, Mr. Haydn Rawstron accused Bishop Matthews of “flying in the face of public opinion” over the rebuilding plans and suggested she step down over her “serious errors of judgment.”
Bishop Matthews told CEN the controversy had turned into a “media mess.”
“I returned home on the weekend from Seoul South Korea and the meeting of the Inter Anglican Commission on Unity Faith and Order, to find that the Press newspaper and others were into an extraordinary misrepresentation of what is happening in the diocese,” Bishop Matthews said.
She noted that the “reports in the local media suggest the dean and I disagree totally about what the new cathedral should look like. We do not disagree about this, and I think it is fair to say that we are both open to various possibilities.”
She added the dean, “who has always had a lively political interest and voice, and who has previously considered entering local politics, now has resigned to run in a by election for a city council seat.”
Dean Beck “has my gratitude for his time” as leader of the cathedral, she said. But his resignation should not be construed as being a result of an internal conflict as “he had already said that he would not be dean to see the new cathedral completed due to his age.”
Diocesan press officer Philip Baldwin told the Press that those who believe the bishop wants to demolish the cathedral were mistaken. “They have not listened to what the bishop has said. She has said over and over again that we are going to proceed very slowly, very cautiously with any demolition work.”
Christ Church Cathedral coming down: The Church of England Newspaper, November 4, 2011 p 6. November 5, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper.Tags: Christchurch earthquake, Victoria Matthews
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Christ Church Cathedral before the earthquake
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Earthquake damaged Christ Church Cathedral in New Zealand will be deconsecrated and portions of the gothic structure pulled down, Bishop Victoria Matthews announced last week.
Speaking to a press conference last week Bishop Matthews said the diocese was exploring its options, including leveling the 130-year old Gothic cathedral which will be deconsecrated on 9 Nov.
“This has been a difficult decision for all involved, as no one loves the cathedral as much as we do,” the bishop said on 27 Oct 2011. “However, this is the next step towards a decision about the future of the cathedral, which will combine the old and the new.”
The decision on how to proceed “follows a challenging and complex assessment process, including review and input by a range of involved and interested persons to identify options and risks, along with consideration of expert analysis and technical reports,” she said.
It will cost upwards of £2 million to demolish the cathedral, which was badly damaged on 22 Feb 2011 by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and aftershock in June.
After the building has been stabilised and the rubble removed, the bishop and cathedral chapter will consider several options including demolishing the whole building or demolishing from 20 to 70 per cent of the existing structure.
Insurance will cover only 70 per cent of the rebuilding costs, the bishop said, leaving a shortfall of £15 to £25 million in the cost of rebuilding.
Dean Peter Beck stated the new cathedral will be a “mixture of old and new” styles. He added that a final decision will be made after demolition. “That gives us time to explore further options about what we will be doing to build a new cathedral,” he said.
