Tour parties get first look inside Christ Church Cathedral

Thursday, May 2nd, 2024

The quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral has opened its doors to members of the public for the first time since the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.

Tour parties are being invited to explore the historic Christchurch building. Once there, those on the tours (restricted to 25 people) learn about the cathedral’s architecture and the ongoing work to rebuild it.

Project manager Keith Paterson says the free tours were fully booked within an hour of being advertised.

“The purpose of these tours is to let as many people as we can sensibly handle get inside and have a look and just understand it a little bit better. And then hopefully they’ll go and tell two people, and they’ll tell two people and so on.”

Paterson estimates the work to reinstate the cathedral is about a third of the way through, while the strengthening process is about halfway through.

“What they’ll see is quite a lot of scaffolding. But I’ll also be pointing out to them the way the strengthening is being done, some of the stonework that’s been taken down and basically how the walls are constructed, that sort of thing.”

Ballooning costs

The team behind the “Reinstate the Cathedral” project say the cost of the rebuild has risen by tens of millions.

“A few surprises have led to us reassessing the overall position of the project. But it doesn’t stop the fact that it’s still the heart of the city and that there’s a lot of love for this project around the community.”

A recent project review revealed the price tag to rebuild the landmark cathedral has grown enormously. Where it was originally projected in 2017 to cost $104m dollars, estimates now say it will cost $248m.

$30m of the reinstatement project’s shortfall needs to be found by August. If it isn’t, the project will probably have to be mothballed indefinitely, Paterson says.