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Jim Anderton, co-chair of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT), campaigned long and hard for Christ Church Cathedral to be restored rather than turned into rubble.
He’s ‘delighted’ that it will return to being Christchurch’s icon.
His wife, Carole Anderton, says her husband had been very pleased that the Anglican Synod decided to reinstate the cathedral, when it voted last week.
Groups in Christchurch have fought for some years over the earthquake-damaged cathedral’s future.
Mr Anderton was a deputy prime minister in the Helen Clark government and held the Christchurch seat of Sydenham for 27 years. He has been ill for some months.
Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy awarded Mr Anderton insignia for services to Parliament earlier this month. He became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June.
Helen Clark attended the ceremony.
Mr Anderton’s wife says, “A lot of people think of Jim and Philip [Burdon] when they think of the fight to restore the cathedral, but really there was a whole team behind them that deserve the credit.”
Following the synod vote, Philip Burdon, himself a former MP and cabinet minister, said he was “delighted, relieved and surprised”.
He welcomed the end of uncertainty over the cathedral’s future.
During the fight to save the cathedral and restore it, Mt Anderton campaigned at public and official levels.
In 2014 he wrote in the New Zealand Herald that what he called some of the most experienced and knowledgeable New Zealand and international seismic and structural engineers agreed that they could save the cathedral.
During the fight to save the cathedral and restore it, Mr Anderton campaigned at public and official levels.
In 2014 he wrote in the New Zealand Herald that what he called some of the most experienced and knowledgeable New Zealand and international seismic and structural engineers agreed that they could save the cathedral.
In 2014 he wrote in the New Zealand Herald that what he called some of the most experienced and knowledgeable New Zealand and international seismic and structural engineers agreed that they could save the cathedral.
He was adamant that no similar building in any other part of the world would remotely be a candidate for demolition.
He did not give up on his campaign when the cathedral’s trustees had Supreme Court backing in 2013 to deconstruct the 132-year-old cathedral and build a new one on the same central city site.
He did not give up on his campaign when the cathedral’s trustees had Supreme Court backing in 2013 to deconstruct the 132-year-old cathedral and build a new one on the same central city site.
Part of the reason for the cathedral’s trustees decided to restore the building included financial help from the government.
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