$5m plan for New Regent St 
CHARLIE GATES Last updated 05:00 09/03/2012

Daniel Tobin


Charlie Gates talks to project manager Edward Leeson about the restoration of New Regent street, which has survived the quakes remarkably well.

One of Christchurch's most picturesque streets could reopen by Christmas in a $5 million restoration and repair project.

New Regent St, in the central-city red zone, is one of the few heritage sites to have emerged from the Canterbury earthquakes relatively unscathed.

Construction company Naylor Love hopes to unite owners of the 38 shops behind the restoration project, but a handful of the 20 to 30 owners have not yet signed up.

Naylor Love project manager Edward Leeson hoped the distinctive Spanish Mission-style buildings could be reopened for the Christmas rush.

"If we get the right push and the right people, we should be open before Christmas because that is when the owners want to be open," he said yesterday.

"That could all go awry if we find something odd in the building, or if there are issues with council it could take a whole heap longer. It will be a good old challenge."

Leeson said he hoped to get all the landowners on the street involved.

"Five owners are on the edge and are not 100 per cent sure and another three haven't quite completed their discussions with insurance," he said.

"This is quite a complicated one. There are multiple owners and multiple units.

"It is a not a standard building project. It is about getting everyone together and getting agreement."

New Regent St was completed in 1931 and was one of few big construction projects in the South Island during the Depression. The distinctive Spanish Mission architectural style is unique on such a scale in New Zealand.

Earthquake damage in the street includes cracked and fallen plaster ceilings, shattered windows, broken bricks in the ground-floor facades, warped floors at ground level and a small sinkhole at one end of the street.

The clock on the corner of the historic street has frozen at 12.51, shattered glass lies in the street and windows are shuttered with plywood, but there is no major structural damage.

"On the whole, considering the age of the buildings, they have stood up very well," said Leeson.

"The damage has not changed since February. It has just been exacerbated."

Leeson said the ground-floor facades would need to be taken down and rebuilt and the floors replaced.

Architect William Fulton, of Fulton Ross Team Architects, said the street was repairable.

"The intention is that when you go down New Regent Street you won't notice the difference, except that it will all be restored," he said.

"In heritage terms, a lot has gone in Christchurch and this will be one area that remains intact. I think that's significant."

Landowner and New Regent St Association chairman David Manning declined to comment on the scheme.

He said the landowners planned to make a public statement about the street in about three weeks.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6547174/5m-plan-for-New-Regent-St

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