
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "On the footpath in Worcester Street near Radio Network House. Pacific Tower (Marque Hotel) is at centre rear".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The remains of SBS House, on the south-east corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Demolition site between the former Government Life building (on the right) and Grant Thornton House with Chancery Lane in the background".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Rear of the Department of Conservation building in Hereford Street seen from the intersection of Manchester and Worcester Streets".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking from 205 Manchester Street to Radio Newtwork House across concrete rubble from the demolition of SBS House, 180 Manchester Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The flags flying are in contrast to the demolition site of the Allan McLean building beyond".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The demolition site of the Copthorne Durham Street with the Casino behind".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The demolition site of the Louis Vuitton Building on the corner of Cathedral Square and Colombo Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Gloucester - Madras Street intersection (south-west view). The large AMI building in the centre is to be demolished".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The intersection of Colombo and Gloucester Streets, looking north west".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The IRD building on Cashel Street seen from across the demolition site of the Occidental Hotel on Hereford Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Colombo Street - centre rear is the Pacific Tower (Marque Hotel) in Gloucester Street. PricewaterhouseCoopers (left) and Forsyth Barr (right)".
An aerial photograph of Hereford Street near Cathedral Square.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Demolition site of Allan McLean building, corner of Colombo Street and Oxford Terrace".
Plumbers say EQC paying bills too slowly, Earthquake Commission defends its claim process, Events centre, not stimulus package, for West Coast, Harawira calls meeting to consider forming new party, Government, Auckland council split over development, Search work in Christchurch central city nears completion, Power in South Christchurch threatened by cut cable.
The major earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 brought to an abrupt end a process of adaptive reuse, revitalisation and gentrification that was underway in the early 20th century laneways and buildings located in the south eastern corner of the Christchurch Central Business District. Up until then, this location was seen as an exemplar of how mixed use could contribute to making the central city an attractive and viable alternative to the suburban living experience predominant in New Zealand. This thesis is the result of a comprehensive case study of this “Lichfield Lanes” area, which involved in depth interviews with business owners, observation of public meetings and examination of documents and the revitalisation research literature. Findings were that many of the factors seen to make this location successful pre-earthquakes mirror the results of similar research in other cities. These factors include: the importance of building upon historic architecture and the eclectic spaces this creates; a wide variety of uses generating street life; affordable rental levels; plus the dangers of uniformity of use brought about by focussing on business types that pay the most rent. Also critical is co-operation between businesses to create and effectively market and manage an identifiable precinct that has a coherent style and ambience that differentiates the location from competing suburban malls. In relation to the latter, a significant finding of this project was that the hospitality and retail businesses key to the success of Lichfield Lanes were not typical and could be described as quirky, bohemian, chaotic, relatively low rent, owner operated and appealing to the economically important “Creative Class” identified by Richard Florida (2002) and others. In turn, success for many of these businesses can be characterised as including psychological and social returns rather than simply conventional economic benefits. This has important implications for inner city revitalisation, as it contrasts with the traditional focus of local authorities and property developers on physical aspects and tenant profitability as measures of success. This leads on to an important conclusion from this research, which is that an almost completely inverted strategy from that applied to suburban mall development, may be most appropriate for successful inner city revitalisation. It also highlights a disconnection between the focus and processes of regulatory authorities and the outcomes and processes most acceptable to the people likely to frequent the central city. Developers are often caught in the middle of this conflicted situation. Another finding was early commitment by businesses to rebuild the case study area in the same style, but over time this waned as delay, demolition, insurance problems, political and planning uncertainty plus other issues made participation by the original owners and tenants impossible or uneconomic. In conclusion, the focus of inner city revitalisation is too often on buildings rather than the people that use them and what they now desire from the central city.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A pile of bricks which have crumbled from a wall and landed on a digger at a demolition on Lichfield Street. This is a result of the 23 December 2011 earthquake".
A photograph taken from the top of the BNZ building. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The MFL Building has reached a very ugly stage of demolition. It is the last building standing on the corner of Gloucester and Colombo Streets".
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Gloucester Street looking west towards Latimer Square. The new Press Building and the Marque/Pacific Towers buildings are at the centre of the photo with the Cathedral in the lower right".
Aerial footage of Canterbury and the Christchurch central city after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The footage shows the earthquake damage to Homebush, St John's Church in Hororata, the railway tracks near Rolleston, and Westende Jewellers on Colombo Street. It also shows flooding in the streets of New Brighton.
A video of a tour through the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The video includes footage of Colombo Street, ChristChurch Cathedral, Warners Hotel, the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Cashel Mall, the former Bus Exchange, Tuam Street, Manchester Street, the Mackenzie & Willis store, High Street, Plume, and The Globe café.
A photograph of buildings along Armagh Street near Victoria Square, including the Victoria Apartments and the Forsyth Barr Building. A noticable forward lean can be seen in the Victoria Apartments.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Corner of Manchester and Gloucester Streets with the site of Iconic in the foreground and the SBS building being demolished to the right. North-east view".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Hotel Grand Chancellor viewed from Hereford Street. It is now hard to recognise with many of its exterior panels removed during the deconstruction process".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Damaged pavement in the alley between the Salvation Army Citadel and the Crowne Plaza on Durham Street. The paving tiles have separated in a pattern reminiscent of a zip".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking in through a broken window of the Oxford On Avon, Colombo Street. It's really hard to see here in a 2 dimensional photo, but the floor has been pushed up into a huge mound about 60cm high".
A photograph taken from the top of the BNZ building. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Finally, the mess outside Coffee Culture on High Street has been cleared and demolition work will complete what the earthquake began. The red containers in the background are Fletchers containers, servicing the Hotel Grand Chancellor deconstruction".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view from Cambridge Terrace towards Cathedral Square. The partially deconstructed Hotel Grand Chancellor no longer dominates the sky line. Here it appears between the PricewaterhouseCoopers building on the left and the Novotel Hotel on the right".
A photograph taken from the top of the BNZ building. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "There are workers suspended from a cage about a third of the way up the Pacific Tower as well as a couple of workers on the top penthouse floor. It's hard to see where they are suspended from".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Damage to the side wall of the Mexican Cafe and His Lordships on Lichfield Street. from the December 23 earthquakes".