Christ Church Cathedral - Fate of iconic cathedral hangs in the balance

[TokWW]

The final decision on the fate of the Christchurch Cathedral hangs in the balance today.

Published: 5:39AM Thursday October 04, 2012 Source: ONE News/Fairfax

The future of the quake-damaged building is being decided at a two-day High Court challenge brought by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust against building owner, the Church Property Trust (CPT).

Final arguments will be heard from both sides with the Great Christchurch Building Trust claiming a move to partially demolish the building is a breach to Parliamentary Law protecting church property.

However, the Trust that owns the Cathedral says restoring the historical building would be unsafe and too expensive.

Meanwhile, documents reveal the Cathedral was written off by Anglican Church officials three months after the February 2011 earthquake, a court has heard.

The Church Property Trust, co-chaired by former Wigram MP Jim Anderton, sought a binding court ruling on whether the Anglican church's deconstruction plans breached an act of Parliament protecting church buildings. His legal advice suggested that, under the act, the church trustees were obliged to repair it.

Minutes from a May 2011 cathedral chapter meeting read to the court yesterday revealed the building was to be scrapped five months before the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) deemed it unsafe. Minutes recorded revealed:

The old cathedral "glorified God in the old tradition" and a new cathedral could glorify God in the New Zealand tradition.

Reluctance to go back to "how things were" and "huge opportunities" existed for a new building.

The cathedral was "more than just a building", it was the "heart and soul of the city".

The old cathedral was "important to many people who actually took nothing from it". A new one should "give more" to them.

Counsel for the building trust Francis Cooke said the trustees were obliged to respond to the Cera section 38 notice. Cera has the power to decide what deconstruction work must be done if a building is deemed dangerous.

A $40 million insurance payout well short of the repair costs created practical problems, but the issue was if the cathedral's fate was at the trustees' discretion, he said.

"They've received that section 38 notice, they've got to make the building safe, and they have decided, 'Right, we're not going to commit our resources to this building anymore. We're going to take the $40m, build a transitional cathedral and then, at a later point in time, we're going to build a new cathedral'. They just don't have that power."

The cathedral chapter minutes suggested the trustees and church believed they were "free to decide" the building's future, Cooke said.

"That was a view they took before the section 38 notice arrived and before the further aftershocks," he said.

Counsel for the CPT, Jared Ormsby, said the trustees intended to rebuild a cathedral in the Square and legislation did not specify that a replica of the original George Gilbert Scott design was required.

The rebuild was expected to cost more than $100m based on a five-year plan.

A ruling by the High Court Judge could be weeks away.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/fate-iconic-cathedral-hangs-in-balance-5114822

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Arguments that the owners of Christ Church Cathedral are obliged to repair and save the earthquake-damaged building are "not valid", a court has heard.

 MICHAEL WRIGHT Last updated 12:34 04/10/2012     
  © Fairfax NZ News


The Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT) is contesting in the High Court in Christchurch the right of the cathedral's owner, the Church Property Trust (CPT), to deconstruct the building, claiming the move breaches a 2003 act of Parliament protecting church buildings.

The cathedral was badly damaged in the Boxing Day 2010 and February 22, 2011, quakes and suffered further in aftershocks.

Counsel for the CPT, Jared Ormsby, today said earlier legislation that made the CPT trustees of the cathedral land and buildings was not subject to the 2003 legislation.

"Prior to 2003, the cathedral land and buildings were not in the dean and chapter estate [property originally held by the trustees] and that's made clear by the 1879 [Church Property Trust] act," he said.

"What that means in this ... idea of importing from the dean and chapter estate the words 'repair and maintenance' [from the 2003 act] is not valid."

Ormsby detailed the quake damage the building had suffered since September 4, 2010, and the work of the Cathedral Project Group, which considered options to repair or demolish the church.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera), which issued a dangerous-building notice on the cathedral, had "reservations" about the temporary strengthening and safety measures that came with the maximum retention option, he said.

The Cathedral Project Group last year considered several options, including one to save as much of the building as possible, before deciding to bring it down.

The GCBT provided its own plan to save the cathedral, and Justice Chisholm questioned whether the later option had been properly considered by Cera.

"I'm not sure if I can answer that, sir," Ormsby replied.

"What we do know is Cera have concerns about temporary supports, which is part of both maximum retention options."

The hearing will end today and a decision is expected next week.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7769005/Owners-not-obliged-to-save-cathedral