Ecan plans return, recovery begins

Environment Canterbury’s government-appointed commissioners have approved the repair and rebuild of its buildings in Kilmore St, Christchurch.

The cost of the rebuild at 58 Kilmore St is likely to be covered by insurance and the first stage of work is expected to begin around April next year.

One of the three buildings on the site, the six-level Aoraki on the west side is already being deconstructed, and the four-storey Pegasus on the east side is still to be fully assessed by engineers. Its proximity to the Copthorne Hotel, recently deconstructed, means restricted access for a full assessment.

In the middle is the single-storey Waitaha building comprising reception area and the Canterbury Civil Defence Group’s emergency co-ordination centre (ECC), where the damage is minor and repairable.

The aim is to have staff return to the site by mid 2014.

Environment Canterbury’s 300 or so Christchurch staff are spread across a number of short-lease offices in Lincoln, Nazareth Ave in Middleton, Kainga, Papanui, Riccarton and Amberley.

Meanwhile, the city council has returned to its building in Hereford St after repair work costing about $15 million. The extensively refurbished building had just been opened a week before the September 4 earthquake.

Services returning

Other aspects of life in Christchurch are returning to normal, albeit the broken and buckled streets on the eastern side are constantly being worked on to repair sewer and water systems. Demolition crews are starting to demolish many suburban homes and empty sections are becoming a feature of most neighbourhoods.

Precautionary chlorine treatment for the city’s aquifer-fed water has ceased.

Civic buildings are also either being slowly reopened or services have been relocated to other buildings.

A second temporary central city library is set to open in Peterborough St next week. Another central city library, the Central South City Library, opened in a refurbished store in South City Mall in July and has proved popular.

The city council continues to pursue people who are ignoring demands that they vacate houses around the Port Hills due to perceived rock fall danger.

It has issued “notices to fix” on 27 homes where it is known residents are still living, based on information gathered by a private investigator.

Some of these residents claim there never has been a danger or it is minimal and they are prepared to sign waivers of responsibility in favour of the council.

The council has issued about 124 notices to about 500 hillside homes. Properties that have been issued section 124 notices prohibiting entry will not have to pay rates while residents are out of their homes.

But the new rates policy does not apply to several thousand other damaged homes throughout the city where residents may be unable to occupy them. They are still required to pay 60% of their rates even if some of them do not have full services.