The September Canterbury earthquake. These pictures were taken of Colombo Street in Sydenham. A lot of masonry in this area has been damaged/fallen down. A second hand dealer store. This is next to Penny Lane which had to relocate down the street. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
The September Canterbury earthquake. These pictures were taken of Colombo Street in Sydenham. A lot of masonry in this area has been damaged/fallen down. The New Zealand Army, along with Police, were minding the cordons. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
The September Canterbury earthquake. These buildings have since been demolished. Note: these photos were taken on a cellphone; mind the quality.
In the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes, one of the biggest threats to our heritage buildings is the risk of earthquakes and the associated drive to strengthen or demolish buildings. Can Small Town NZ balance the requirements of the EQPB legislation and economic realities of their places? The government’s priority is on safety of building occupants and citizens in the streets. However, maintaining and strengthening privately-owned heritage buildings is often cost prohibitive. Hence, heritage regulation has frequently been perceived as interfering with private property rights, especially when heritage buildings occupy a special place in the community becoming an important place for people (i.e. public benefits are larger than private). We investigate several case studies where building owners have been given green light to demolish heritage listed buildings to make way for modern developments. In two of the case studies developers provided evidence of unaffordable strengthening costs. A new trend that has emerged is a voluntary offer of contributing to an incentive fund to assist with heritage preservation of other buildings. This is a unique example where private owners offer incentives (via council controlled organisations) instead of it being purely the domain of the central or local governments.
A photograph of the scale viewer eyepiece from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the declinator readout ring from the Townsend Telescope. The ring was chipped and scratched during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a friction collar from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the earthquake-damaged output shaft from the top-plate of the Townsend Telescope's clock drive. The output shaft was bent out of shape during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a slow motion rod from the Townsend Telescope. The rod was bent out of shape during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a governor friction plate from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of a slow motion rod from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of a slow motion rod from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of a slow motion rod from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the governor from the Townsend Telescope. The left weight broke off during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a balance weight on the side of the lower end of the main tube from the Townsend Telescope. The weight and tube were damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a balance weight on the side of the lower end of the main tube from the Townsend Telescope. The weight and tube were damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a bolt head from the Townsend Telescope. The bolt head broke off one of the telescope's bolts during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the clock pulley from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the clock drive from the Townsend Telescope. Many of the plates around the clock drive broke off during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the focus assembly from the Townsend Telescope. The assembly was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the focus assembly from the Townsend Telescope. The assembly was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the declination vernier from the Townsend Telescope. The left side of the vernier was bent out of shape during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the declination vernier from the Townsend Telescope. The left side of the vernier was bent out of shape during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the right ascension clamp from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the clock drive from the Townsend Telescope. Many of the plates around the clock drive broke off during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Prior to the devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, parts of the CBD of Christchurch, New Zealand were undergoing revitalisation incorporating aspects of adaptive reuse and gentrification. Such areas were often characterised by a variety of bars, restaurants, and retail outlets of an “alternative” or “bohemian” style. These early 20th century buildings also exhibited relatively low rents and a somewhat chaotic and loosely planned property development approach by small scale developers. Almost all of these buildings were demolished following the earthquakes and a cordon placed around the CBD for several years. A paper presented at the ERES conference in 2013 presented preliminary results, from observation of post-earthquake public meetings and interviews with displaced CBD retailers. This paper highlighted a strongly held fear that the rebuild of the central city, then about to begin, would result in a very different style and cost structure from that which previously existed. As a result, permanent exclusion from the CBD of the types of businesses that previously characterised the successfully revitalised areas would occur. Five years further on, new CBD retail and office buildings have been constructed, but large areas of land between them remain vacant and the new buildings completed are often having difficulty attracting tenants. This paper reports on the further development of this long-term Christchurch case study and examines if the earlier predictions of the displaced retailers are coming true, in that a new CBD that largely mimics a suburban mall in style and tenancy mix, inherently loses some of its competitive advantage?
The city of Christchurch has experienced over 10,000 aftershocks since the 4th of September 2010 earthquake of which approximately 50 have been greater than magnitude 5. The damage caused to URM buildings in Christchurch over this sequence of earthquakes has been well documented. Due to the similarity in age and construction of URM buildings in Adelaide, South Australia and Christchurch (they are sister cities, of similar age and heritage), an investigation was conducted to learn lessons for Adelaide based on the Christchurch experience. To this end, the number of URM buildings in the central business districts of both cities, the extent of seismic strengthening that exists in both cities, and the relative earthquake hazards for both cities were considered. This paper will report on these findings and recommend strategies that the city of Adelaide could consider to significantly reduce the seismic risk posed by URM buildings in future earthquake
A photograph of the damage to the teeth of a gear from the worm gear drive of the Townsend Telescope. The gear was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a slow motion gear from the Townsend Telescope.
A photograph of the declination slow motion gear from the Townsend Telescope.