Frank Films: When will Christchurch get its heart back?

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 says it’s too late for that.

“You can’t go forward, you can’t go back,” Stewart tells Frank Film.

The city is preparing to open a $683m first-class stadium next year. “We’re basically showcasing Christchurch as a new city,” says Stewart, “but yet this [the cathedral] sort of has ‘shame’ written all over it because we haven’t funded it enough.”

The Stewart family are among the richest in Canterbury, and alongside donating two bells to the cathedral in the 1970s, they have been the top donors to the cathedral reinstatement project.

When asked if he could fund the shortfall himself, Stewart says 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 says the people of Christchurch have forgotten how important the cathedral and Cathedral Square were to the city’s civic activity. There are people, however, who want 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 rebuild, 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,” says Stewart. “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 Christchurch City Council, which allows groups of 50 people to enter at a time, Grant has taken people through the cathedral doors for concerts and exhibitions.

Outside in the square, veteran urban planner James Lunday longs 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,” says Lunday. The opening of malls throughout Christchurch in the 1960s 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,” says Lunday.

The Regenerate plan was never implemented by the council.

While Lunday says “it’s not about defending a design that was done in the past”, he worries that there is 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,” says Lunday.

Christchurch City Council general manager for city infrastructure Brent Smith says the council is working with multiple developers “as they develop around the square”.

Smith says the council has a budget for the square “in the long term plan”, but could not recall the figure when asked by Frank Film.

Council CEO Mary Richardson says the council wants 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.”

So how to move forwards?

Stewart says a clear solution requires 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,” says Stewart, “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.