Retrofitting – CPR for the Central City?

Abstract

There is widespread concern within the Christchurch City Council and the wider community that the central city of Christchurch is dying. As a result the Christchurch City Council has been trying to revive the dying "heart" of Christchurch by a variety of means with limited success. Large areas of the central city comprise old buildings that currently suffer from extensive functional and economic obsolescence. One solution to this problem would be large scale demolition and comprehensive urban renewal based around replacement new buildings. However, such an approach has serious limitations in terms of the resulting loss of heritage and the non sustainable nature of such development. Therefore the preferred solution is to encourage inner city revitalisation by retrofitting the old buildings in a way that is economic for their owners. If these buildings are no longer suitable for their current use an alternative economic use must be found. This adaptive re-use approach poses even greater challenges to property developers due to the requirements of the Building Act 2004. This paper discusses the reasons behind the decline of the Christchurch inner city, evaluates the past and current efforts being made to arrest that decline and makes recommendations for future measures to reverse this decline.