As Leah & Luke worked in the CBD & Jake had started a new job at The Brewery next to The Tannery which was recently restored on Garlands Rd, I drove around Christchurch to see demolition-sites & construction-sites near their work places.
03.12.13. London St view, Bealey Ave / Fitzgerald Ave junction
03.12.13. Post quake house rebuild, London St
1. Leah, Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St: New wooden house being built on a demo site near the undertaker.
03.12.13. Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St
Close to Leah's school, new apartments were being built on an empty lot. In the 22 February 2011 Quake, I saw a massive liquefaction-volcano rising there which occupied a third of the site. Builders just dug a foundation-hole through the quakemire & shingle-filled the hole a metre deep, compressed it with a road-roller & laid a thick, concrete foundation-slab on top. In another big quake, the new flats could float on top of the liquefaction-mashed shingle.
03.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger. Compressed shingle foundation on liquefactioned site, London St
22 February 2011 Quake: I remembered that within ten metres of that site, the London St footpath was flooded by a metre-deep moat of liquefaction-muck outside the school gate, while liquefaction-volcanoes oozed up all over the school carpark & playground.
Across London St, Richmond Working Mens Club was a masonry ruin, still being demolished, leaving a concrete lift-shaft & rubble-heap. I saw a yellow-digger, excavator buckets & a wrecker-ball by the rubble. Over the last three years, the club was demolished in stages, next to Richmond Methodist Church. Leah's school endured demolition-knocks, causing the school to shake like aftershocks which disturbed staff & kids. Leah had had a guts-full!
2021. New Richmond Club would open. Jake would chef there. (See job-hopping below).
03.12.13. Richmond Working Mens Club demolition site, London St / Stanmore Rd
03.12.13. Stanmore Rd view, Richmond Working Mens Club demolition site left, Richmond Methodist Church ghost right
2015. While Seabrook McKenzie Centre was repaired, staff & kids would move temporarily down the road to abandoned Richmond School. (Closed during MoE's mergers / closures).
2016. Richmond Methodist Church would be moved to Marshlands Rd.
During quakes, Luke worked for a year at Douglas Furniture between Horatio St & Balfour Tce: Daily I drove Luke along St Asaph St through CERA's ruined CBD to drop-off Luke at Douglas Furniture. A commercial demolition-site at Balfour Tce end was a parking lot. USAR / TF graffiti still polluted the Pigeon Club ruin. From Balfour Tce, I saw the vast demolition-site where Canterbury Brewery once stood. For months at work, Luke endured demolition-shakes which felt like aftershocks. What remained: a yellow-digger atop a pile of crushed demolition-concrete. That site & Luke's work premises including other buildings to be demolished in Antigua St vicinity would become part of CERA's Blueprint Metro Sports Facility.
03.12.13. Douglas Furniture, Balfour Tce, soon to be demolished for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint Metro Sports Facility
03.12.13. Balfour Tce bldgs soon to be demolished for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint Metro Sports Facility
03.12.13. Abandoned Pigeon Club, USAR / TF graffiti, Balfour Tce, soon to be demolished for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint Metro Sports Facility
03.12.13. Balfour Tce view, Canterbury Brewery demolition site, to become NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint Metro Sports Facility. Christchurch Hospital far left, CBD bldgs beyond
03.12.13. Balfour Tce view, Christchurch Hospital precinct
03.12.13. Balfour Tce view: Christchurch Hospital staff parking, Antigua St / St Asaph St. Central Police high rise awaited implosion behind. Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel right
03.12.13. Yellow digger parked on crushed concrete, Canterbury Brewery demolition site, Antigua St
CERA & cowboy demolishers had a gung-ho attitude to asbestos pollution: September 2016, The Press would report that CERA's anchor project sites like Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae, Central Library / Turanga, Performing Arts Precinct & the Stadium had asbestos buried by demolishers. Years hence, who would pay for asbestosis? (August 2018. Between hospitality jobs, Jake would briefly do gib-stopping at the Central Library / Turanga rebuild, Cathedral Sq).
About a year ago, during one of Richmond Working Mens Club demolition phases, I saw a BEWARE ASBESTOS sign hanging on the Club gate opposite Leah's London Stschool. Recently, no sign! Jake had endured demolition-dust from the ruined Chinese Methodist Church next to his Brewers Arms workplace, Papanui Rd, Merivale. Luke had endured months of demolition-dust from Canterbury Brewery's demolition & other demolitions for the Metro Sports Facility. I too inhaled demolition-dust during my treks!
Asbestosis hazard: Occasionally, I'd seen on contractors' boards a small warning notice written by a site foreman for workers to use masks against asbestos dust. That asbestos warning was amongst a list of other site-hazards. What were EQC contractors thinking when they covered damaged asbestos-ceilings & damaged walls with gib-boards?
Jake worked at The Brewery, Garlands Rd, a busy joining-road between Opawa Rd & Ferry Rd, so Jake would have lots of customers. Next-door, away from CERA's torpid CBD The Tannery was restored: zig-zag roof, cleaned brick, exterior walls. The atrium was full of boutique shops, both sides of a tiled, central passage. Above shop windows a Victorian wrought-iron gallery was topped by arcaded, roof- glass which shone warmth & light onto the shops. I saw a butchery, a busy cafe & relocated Smiths Book Shop which I'd last snapped post 4 September 2010 Quake on ruined Manchester St. The Manchester St book shop was demolished together with other red-light district stores.
So far, two rentals where Jake had stayed pre-quakes were demolished post-quakes: an old house on Avonside Dr, Avon Loop; a Poplar Mews apartment, Poplar Ln in the CBD.
03.12.13. The Brewery left, The Tannery restoration right, Garlands Rd. Port Hills beyond
03.12.13. Cumnor Tce view, The Brewery
Private sector restored, The Tannery beside Heathcote River was popular with locals, unlike recently restored New Regent St shops, in CERA's core-CBD which battled to get foot-traffic amongst SCIRT road excavations, road closures & detours like closed Gloucester St Bridge. If there was hospitality work in CERA's core-CBD, Jake could've got hospitality work there. Simple!
03.12.13. The Tannery restoration, Garlands Rd
03.12.13. The Tannery atrium restoration, boutique shops, Victorian wrought iron gallery & glass roof, Garlands Rd
03.12.13. Gustavs, The Tannery restoration, Garlands Rd
The Tannery, new Gustavs bar: Jake enjoyed its competitive cuisine & booze. Restoration was ongoing at The Tannery: more new shops being restored near the carpark, a boardwalk being constructed beside those shops.
Quake insecurity / job-hopping: After leaving The Brewery chef job, Jake would chef a couple of years at Woolston Club, Hargood St, then in September 2018 Jake would work for a Caterer at Cumnor Tce near The Tannery. By the end of 2019 Jake would have carpal-tunnel syndrome due to repetitive hand-work. Since the 22 February 2011 Quake, Jake's job-hopping showed the shocking state of post-quake hospitality work in Christchurch. Jake's shaky jobs during & after quakes: Under The Red Verandah, Worcester St; Speight's Ale House, Bealey Ave; Brewers Arms, Papanui Rd; The Brewery, Garlands Rd; Woolston Club, Hargood St; Central Library / Turanga rebuild, Cathedral Sq; Caterer, Cumnor Tce. Never mind overpriced rentals Jake endured. 2020. Coronavirus pandemic would aggravate hospitality woes in Christchurch. 2021. Jake's catering work would relocate to Ferrymead. As jake did late night shift-work, he spent a small-fortune on taxis. 2021-24. Chef, Richmond Club, Stanmore Rd. 2024-26. A campervan loop around Australia doing temp chef work including head-chef at a Lake Eildon resort near Melbourne.
03.12.13. Cumnor Tce, The Tannery view, Port Hills
03.12.13. The Tannery restoration, Garlands Rd
Wednesday 04.12.13. I trekked the 10km hell-drive I did twice on 22 February 2011 Quake afternoon between our Heath St rental, Burnside & Leah's London St school, Richmond. From Leah's school carpark, I started trekking near five cypresses which Leah saw moving up/down, side to side... in the 22 February 2011 Quake. During that quake, liquefaction-volcanoes oozed into the carpark. In the 13 June 2011 Quake too.
03.12.13. Cypresses, Seabrook McKenzie Centre carpark, heavily liquefactioned in the 22.02.11 & 13.06.11 quakes, London St
Bealey Ave: I trekked past survivor businesses, housing, flats & house demolition-sites to Madras St crossing.
Bealey Ave / Madras St: A boarded ruin was sold. On the opposite corner I saw a dentist rebuild on the Hearing Clinic's demolition-site. I'd consulted that clinic during my early Christchurch years & found analogue hearing-aids were expensive & usless for my deafness! Better digital hearing aids-were still being developed.
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Bealey Ave / Madras St
Madras St to Forfar St: I saw the SCIRT-repaired road was in good condition. Most houses were inhabited, in good repair. Some houses & commercial buildings close to Bealey Ave were ruined. I passed house demolition-sites & recently repaired houses. Some houses still needed repairs, evidence of slow insurer settlements. So far, few rebuilds.
That was the repair / rebuild pattern I saw all the way back to Burnside, with variations en route. Near Canon St crossing, I passed cattle grazing on an overgrown lot where someone had suggested temporary housing could be constructed for rebuild workers. That idea fizzled. I passed a yellow, Graceworks digger parked on a rubble-heap at the Seventh Day Adventist Church's demolition-site, St Albans.
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Madras St
03.12.13. Orange, plastic, road cone. Post quake demolition site, Madras St
03.12.13. Blue portaloo. Post quake demolition site, Madras St
03.12.13. Post quake grazing cattle, open lot, Madras St
03.12.13. Red portaloo. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake house repair, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake abandoned shop, Madras St / Canon St
03.12.13. Quake damaged houses awaited repairs, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs left, repairs to housing right, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house, awaited repairs, Madras St
03.12.13. Boarded windows, house awaited repairs, Madras St
Madras St by St Albans Creek: I saw ruins, some awaiting repairs. When I'd twice driven that way during the 22 February 2011 Quake the area was flooded by quakemire & sewage. The road was sunk in places, almost impassable for traffic, except the middle. Parallel Barbadoes St was worse, it had more liquefaction-flooding. As usual in Christchurch, by rivers, streams & creeks, there was more damage than elsewhere due to soft soil, liquefaction & riverbank lateral-spreading.
03.12.13. St Albans Creek, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake tilted garage & fencing, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake survivor shop, Madras St / Edgeware Rd
03.12.13. Yellow digger. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Albans, Seventh Day Adventist Church demolition site, Madras St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house, garden wall, Madras St
Edgeware Bowling Club: The bowling green was flooded, a mosquito breeding area in summer heat. The club sook funds for repairs.
03.12.13. Flooded bowling green, Edgeware Bowling Club, Madras St
03.12.13. Post quake fence signs, Madras St / Warrington St / Forfar St traffic circle
Forfar St: Still lumpy, bumpy & patch-repaired, not as good as Madras St. Most houses were in good repair, inhabited. Some houses needed repairs. No rebuilds. I passed a demolition-site & a ruin. By 2022 Forfars St would be a No Exit street: the roundabout would be removed & the traffic-light would be installed at Forfars St / Madras St "crossing." That filtered traffic from parallel Cranford St & the new northern highway to the CBD.
03.12.13. Quake survivor shops, quake damaged house awaited repairs, Forfar St / Berwick St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Forfar St / Berwick St
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Forfar St
Forfar St / Westminster St / Severn St junctions: During the 22 February 2011 Quake, I remembered liquefaction-flooding & mud oozing from the ground covering footpaths. The junction corner ruins needed repairs.
03.12.13. Repairs to quake damaged house, Westminster St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Westminster St / Severn St
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Westminster St / Severn St
Severn St: Like Guildford St near our Burnside rental, the street was lined by mature oaks. I remembered the street was quakemire-flooded during the 22 February 2011 Quake. Most houses were in good repair, inhabited. I saw that the collapsed-chimneys were replaced with roof-tiles or corrugated-iron sheets. Some houses still needed quake-repairs.
I saw building contractors doing repairs / rebuilds, making bucks from EQC or insurers. On a fence, a builder's advert board:
GI Builders Ltd
EQC OPTING OUT - NOMINATE YOUR BUILDER
*Familiar with EQC Process
*Choose Own Dates
*Additional Work - Extensions / Renovations
INSURANCE - NOMINATE YOUR BUILDER
*New Builds / Architectural Homes
*House & Land Packages
*Extensions / Renovations
03.12.13. Post quake repaired roofs, Severn St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited roof repairs, Severn St
03.12.13. Quake damaged, boarded house awaited repairs, Severn St
03.12.13. Shipping containers in garden. Repairs to quake damaged house, Severn St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Severn St / Innes Rd
Innes Rd to Papanui Rd crossing: A long, hot stretch, patchy, bumpy road in places. Most houses were inhabited, in good repair. I saw that several two-storey, Merivale houses near a stream & Browns Rd were still damaged, needing repairs. I saw more ruins. The corner house, Papanui Rd, had had no quake-repairs ever since the 4 September 2011 Quake. A gutter-pipe would hang from the roof for years. Was the owner blind, or waiting for insurer settlement, or what?
03.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake rebuild site next to shops, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Repairs to quake damaged house, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Post quake, wood braced, garden wall, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Roadside stream, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Post quake abandoned house, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Post quake demolition site, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Quake damaged, boarded house awaited repairs, Innes Rd
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Innes Rd / Papanui Rd
Heaton St haunts: Patchy, bumpy road. St George's Hospital was being repaired. (October 2021. I would have cochlear-implant surgery at St George's Hospital). I saw mostly inhabited houses in good repair. I saw one new house build. Many roof repairs were completed. Chimneys which had collapsed in the 4 September 2010 Quake were mostly repaired.
03.12.13. Post quake road signs, Heaton St
03.12.13. Quake damaged garden fence awaited repairs, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake repaired roof, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake house repairs, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake repairs to St George's Hospital, Heaton St
03.12.13. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake, wood braced, garden wall, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake house rebuild, Heaton St
I saw a couple of brick garden-walls, still wood-braced, needing repairs. A two-storey house was being rebuilt. Some two storeys houses opposite Elmwood Park still needed repairs. One damaged roof was part-covered in white-plastic. Two girls sold cherries & berry-fruit from their parked cars. A house demolition-site awaited rebuild next to the park stream.
03.12.13. Post quake, wood braced, garden wall, Heaton St
03.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake damaged house awaited repairs, Heaton St
03.12.13. Cherries, berry fruit for sale by quake damaged house, Heaton St
03.12.13. House demolition site by stream, Heaton St
Heaton St / Rossall St / Strowan Rd crossing haunts: I saw a brick garden-wall, wood-braced, needing repairs. On the opposite corner, I saw Parkdale house's black-plastic garden-fencing, a blot on the landscape since the 22 February 2011 Quake. A Harcourts FOR SALE board was by the crooked iron-gate.
03.12.13. Quake trashed, brick, garden wall, Heaton St
03.12.13. Post quake, FOR SALE, Parkdale, Heaton St / Rossall St
Strowan Rd to Ilam Rd: Back to Burnside, I took a few more pics of real estate boards, not bothering with more pics as I'd blogged repairs & rebuilds on that home-stretch via Wairakei Rd, Ilam Rd & Clyde Rd back to Guildford St & Heath St in other posts. My 10km trek from London St to Heath St took me three hours & many pic stops.
That afternoon a HydroTech sucker-truck sucked muck from manholes in the middle of Heath St outside our rental. Although sucker-trucks sucked Christchurch ever since the 4 September 2010 Quake more than three years ago, it was the first time a sucker-truck sucked Heath St. Sucker-trucks had systematically cleared all Christchurch drains.
03.12.13. Post quake sucker truck, Heath St
News this week: EQC wouldn't finish its scheduled, $100 000 undercap home-repairs by December. Customer-Services boss Emson made excuses & apologised. (EQC news, 3 December 2013). A public-protest led by Rev Coleman at Southern Response insurer, Addington: boss Peter Rose said he'd deal with specific protesters' claims soon. (The Press 02.12.13). As both EQC & Southern Response were Crown entities accountable to CERA minister Brownlee, why did Brownlee do nothing about their delays & incompetence?
Anyone trekking around Christchurch could see there were many houses still needing repairs, more than three years post 4 September 2010 Quake. An indictment of EQC & insurers. Evidence of needed repairs could easily be seen: cracked-walls, boarded-windows & walls, plastic-covered walls & roofs, boarded & braced garden-walls, ruins, overgrown gardens, junk-mail in overflowing letter-boxes. As there were few house rebuilds so far, that was an indictment of insurers' low-ball offers to claimants.
Those lucky enough to have house-repairs done, who'd opted out of EQC repairs, or settled with EQC or insurers for cash, had either repaired their houses themselves, or sold to cash up. From CBD to Fendalton & Burnside, I saw many real-estate boards touting FOR SALE or AUCTION bargains in Christchurch. The real-estate boards & brochures made interesting reading about TC2 land, nearby schools, EQC repairs done, or not, as-is-where-is, geotech reports, EQC reports, LIM reports...
BUYER BEWARE: I wouldn't buy any pre-quakes house, repaired or not. I'd only consider a new post-quake house built on TC1 or TC2 land. House- auctions looked like real-estate rats-nests whereby broken-houses could be sold with little control over repairs being done, or not. There was nothing stopping owners of damaged-housing doing cosmetic-repairs, paint-here, asphalt-there, pocketing EQC's or insurers' cash-payouts & flogging their damaged-properties without full-repairs.
Clyde Rd: I'd recently seen a raised two-storey house being railed across the garden from its old, damaged-foundation, to a new concrete-slab foundation, next to a new garage. BUYER BEWARE.
03.12.13. Post quake new garage & house moved forward on rails, onto new concrete foundation, Clyde Rd
*Trekked London St, Bealey Ave, Madras St, Forfar St, Westminster St, Severn St, Innes Rd, Heaton St, Wairakei Rd, Ilam Rd, Clyde Rd, Guildford St, Heath St. 196 images.
Coda:
September 2015: The Press would report that many damaged-houses had shoddy repairs, particularly jack-&-pack foundation-repairs (MBIE report) controlled by EQC. CERA minister Brownlee blamed "Cowboy" contractors, who must repair their shoddy repairs! A lawyer touted a petition for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into EQC / Fletcher shoddy-repairs. CERA minister Brownlee once again went into delay-deny-defend mode. Meanwhile five years post 4 September 2010 Quake, many home-owners still waited for incompetent EQC to decide whether their home-repairs were undercap, or overcap. Crown insurer, Southern Response then blamed incompetent EQC for delays in overcap decisions. Farcical! If NZ National government's MBIE & Crown insurer, Southern Response were complaining about inept EQC, minister Brownlee should've done something about EQC's incompetence years ago!
It's not that CERA minister Brownlee was unaware of inept EQC. Media reported for years about EQC's mishandling of housing-assessments. Three years before, 08.08.12, I'd attended a protest at EQC's Christchurch office, Princess St, where EQC's boss Simpson & EQC's customer-services boss Emson (recently resigned) fielded questions from protesters. Rev Coleman led the protest. Former mayor Moore, former Labour MP & current mayor Dalziel, current councillor Livingstone & former councillor Carter were protesting there.
Reckoning: CERA minister Brownlee oversaw a systematic shafting of 1000s of Canterbury homeowners due to EQC's under-assessments, shoddy- repairs & slow decisions regarding $100 000 undercap & overcap housing. EQC Truths blogger, a former employee at EQC's Wellington office, whistle-blew by leaking EQC documents. There was silencing court-action by EQC & the Solicitor General. EQC Truths whistle-blower fled overseas, silencing his EQC Truths blog. 2019. Dame Silvia Cartwright would run a Public Inquiry into EQC.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Hundreds join insurance protest (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Death or EQC which is worse? (The Press / Stuff Co).
See More homes under the hammer (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Christchurch anchor projects plagued by land contamination (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Public Inquiry into EQC.
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