The fate of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is becoming clearer, as new information is released on the state of the current building and land.
Board chairman Lance Ryan said there were many complex issues affecting the decision making, but they had discovered new information on the state of the current Cathedral.
Ryan said that if the cathedral was rebuilt on the existing location, specific deep foundations would be needed to support the four internal dome columns and the heavy bell tower.
“The remainder of the structure could use the existing shallow foundations, which would need to be strengthened to tolerate up to 90 millimetres of differential settlement in a major earthquake,” he said.
Ryan said there were still more issues which needed to be considered before a decision could be made.
Source
- The Press
- Image: National Library
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