As Leah & Luke worked in the CBD & Jake had started a new job at The Brewery next to The Tannery, 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: A new wooden house was being built between the undertaker & Bealey Ave on a demolition site. The original house was damaged in the quakes.
03.12.13. Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St
Closer to Leah's school, new flats were being built on an empty lot. In the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, a massive liquefaction volcano had risen from the earth, occupying about a third of the site. All that builders did was dig a foundation hole through the liquefaction silt, fill up the hole with shingle about a metre deep, then compress it with a road roller, so a thick concrete foundation slab could be built on top. In the next big quake, the new flats would float on top of liquefaction mashed shingle.
03.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger. Compressed shingle foundation on liquefactioned site, London St
Within 10 metres of that bldg site, London St pavement, in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, was flooded in 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, a masonry ghost, was still being demolished, leaving a concrete lift shaft & a heap of rubble. A yellow digger, excavator buckets & a wrecker ball were by the rubble. Over the last 3 years, the club had been demolished in stages, next to Richmond Methodist Church. Leah's school had endured demolition knocks, causing the school to shudder & shake, like aftershocks, which disturbed staff & students. Leah had a guts full!
2021. A new Richmond Club would open. Jake would chef there. (See quake 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 to abandoned Richmond School. (Closed during MOE's quake mergers / closures).
2016. Richmond Methodist Church would be moved to Marshlands Rd.
2. Luke, Douglas Furniture, between Horatio St & Balfour Tce: I drove along St Asaph St, through quakes & CERA trashed CBD, to Luke's work premises. A commercial demolition site at the end of Balfour Tce was a parking lot. USAR / TF graffiti still polluted the Pigeon Club ghost. From Balfour Tce, I looked at the vast demolition site where Canterbury Brewery once stood. For months at work, Luke had endured demolition shakes & bumps, like aftershocks. All that was left was a yellow digger parked on top of a pile of crushed demolition concrete. The site & Luke's work premises, amongst other bldgs to be demolished in Antigua St vicinity, would become NZ National govt's / 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. Sept 2016, The Press would report that NZ National govt's / CERA's anchor project sites, like the Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae, Blueprint Central Library / Turanga, Blueprint Performing Arts Precinct & Blueprint Stadium had asbestos buried by demolishers. As asbestos affects on lungs took decades to form asbestosis, who would pay for asbestosis years hence? (Aug 2018. Between hospitality jobs, Jake would briefly do gib stopping at Central Library / Turanga rebuild, Cathedral Sq).
About a year before, during one of the Richmond Working Mens Club demolition phases, a BEWARE ASBESTOS sign had hung on the Club gate across the road from Leah's London St. Recently, no such sign! Jake had endured demolition of the old Chinese Methodist Church next to his Brewers Arms workplace, Papanui Rd, Merivale. Luke had endured months of demolition dust from Canterbury Brewery demolition & other demolitions for the Metro Sports Facility. Never mind all the dust I'd imbibed in my quake treks.
There'd been no personal warnings from employers, nor demolishers, nor CERA about asbestosis dangers to surrounding workplaces & homes. Occasionally on my treks I'd seen on contractors' boards a small warning notice written by a site foreman for workers to use masks against asbestos dust. That was all. The asbestos warning was amongst a list of other site hazards. And what were EQC contractors thinking when they covered quake damaged, asbestos ceilings & walls with gib boards?
3. Jake, 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 post quake restored, zig-zag roof & cleaned brick, exterior walls. The atrium was full of busy boutique shops, both sides of a tiled, central passage. Above shop windows a Victorian wrought iron gallery was topped by arcaded, roof glass, shining warmth & light onto the shops. I spotted a butchery, a busy cafe & relocated, Smiths Book Shop, which I'd last snapped post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, trashed on Manchester St. The Manchester St book shop was demolished with other red light district stores.
So far, I'd noted 2 rentals where Jake had stayed pre quakes had been demolished post quakes: a house on Avonside Dr, Avon Loop, a Poplar Mews flat, 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 already popular with locals, unlike recently restored New Regent St shops, in CERA's core CBD, already battling to get foot traffic amongst SCIRT road excavations, road closures & detours, like closed Gloucester St Bridge. New Regent St shops were expensive tourist traps. If there was hospitality work created by CERA in the CBD, Jake could've got hospitality work in the CBD. 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
I looked at new Gustavs bar in The Tannery & thought Jake would enjoy its competitive cuisine & booze. Restoration was ongoing at The Tannery with more new shops being restored alongside the carpark. A boardwalk was 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 Sept 2018 Jake would work for a Caterer, Cumnor Tce, near The Tannery. By the end of 2019 Jake would have carpal tunnel syndrome due to repetitive hand work. Since the 22.02.11 Killer 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 add to hospitality woes in Christchurch. 2021. Catering work for Jake would relocate to Ferrymead. As jake did late night, shift work, he spent a fortune on taxis. 2021. Chef, Richmond Club, Stanmore Rd...
03.12.13. Cumnor Tce, The Tannery view, Port Hills
03.12.13. The Tannery restoration, Garlands Rd
Wed 04.12.13. I trekked the hell drive I did twice on 22.02.11 Killer Quake afternoon between our Heath St rental, Burnside & Leah's London St school, Richmond, about 10km. At Leah's school carpark, I started trekking from 5 cypresses, which Leah saw moving up/down, side to side... in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Liquefaction volcanoes had oozed into the carpark in that quake & in the 13.06.11 Quake.
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 quake survivor businesses, housing, flats & house demolition sites to Madras St crossing.
Bealey Ave / Madras St: Boarded ghost, sold. On the opp cnr a dentist rebuild was on the Hearing Clinic demolition site. I'd consulted that clinic during our early Christchurch years.
03.12.13. Quake abandoned house, Bealey Ave / Madras St
Madras St to Forfar St: The road was SCIRT repaired & in good condition. Most houses were inhabited & in good repair, but some houses & commercial bldgs close to Bealey Ave were ghosts. I passed house demolition sites & some recently repaired houses. Some houses still needed repairs, evidence of slow insurer settlements. Few rebuilds.
That was the repair / rebuild pattern all the way back to Burnside, variations en route. Near Canon St crossing, I passed cattle grazing on a large 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 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: ghosts, some awaited repairs. When I'd twice driven that way in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, the area was flooded with liquefaction water, mud & sewage. The road had sunk in places making the road almost impassable for traffic, except for the middle. Parallel Barbadoes St was worse, even more liquefaction flooding & mud. As usual in Christchurch, by rivers, streams & creeks, there was more quake damage than elsewhere, due to soft soil, more liquefaction & lateral spreading on riverbanks.
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, a bowling green was flooded, a mosquito breeding area in summer heat. The club was seeking funds for club 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 ghost. By 2022 Forfars St would be a No Exit street, as the traffic circle would be removed & a traffic light would be installed at Forfars St / Madras St "crossing," filtering traffic from parallel Cranford St & the the new N highway towards 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: 22.02.11 Killer Quake haunting: Liquefaction flooding, masses of mud oozing from the ground, covering pavements. Couple of ghosts at the junctions needed repairs. Cnr ghost.
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, it was lined by mature oaks. Severn St, 22.02.11 Killer Quake haunting: Flooded by liquefaction water & mud. Most houses in good repair, inhabited. Chimneys, collapsed in quakes, had been replaced with roof tiles or corrugated iron sheets. Some houses still needed quake repairs.
Building contractors, doing post quake repairs / rebuilds, made bucks in the EQC / Insurance saga. Fence, builder's ad 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 haunts: Long hot stretch, patchy, bumpy road in places. Most houses inhabited, in good repair. Several 2 storey, Merivale houses near a stream & Browns Rd still damaged, needing repairs, some ghosts. A cnr house on Papanui Rd had no quake repairs since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. A gutter pipe would hang from the roof for years. Was the owner blind, 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. (2021. I would have my cochlear implant op at St George's Hospital). Mostly inhabited houses, in good repair. 1 new house build. Many roof repairs completed. Chimneys collapsed in the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, 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
A couple of brick garden walls were wood braced, needing repairs. A 2 storey house was being rebuilt. Some 2 storey ghosts opp Elmwood Park needed repairs. One damaged roof was part covered in white plastic. Two girls sold cherries & other berry fruit from their cars. A house demolition site, awaiting a rebuild, was next to a stream by the park.
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: A brick garden wall was wood braced, needing repairs. On the opp cnr, Parkdale house had black plastic garden fencing, a blot on the landscape since the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. A hopeful Harcourts FOR SALE board stood by the quake 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 couple more pics of real estate boards, but didn't bother with more pics, as I'd blogged repairs & rebuilds on the 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 3 hours, many pic stops.
That afternoon, a HydroTech sucker truck sucked muck from manholes in the middle of Heath St. Although sucker trucks had roamed & sucked Christchurch ever since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, more than 3 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 under cap home repairs by December. Customer Services boss Emson made excuses & apologised. (EQC news, 3 December 2013). A public protest was led by Rev Coleman at Southern Response insurer, Addington, with boss Peter Rose saying 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 far too many houses still needing repairs more than 3 years post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. That was 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, ghosts, overgrown gardens, junk mail in overflowing letter boxes. Few house rebuilds was further indictment of insurers' low ball offers to claimants.
On the other hand 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 the CBD to Fendalton & Burnside, there were many real estate boards touting FOR SALE or AUCTION bargains in post quake Christchurch. The 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: If I had money to buy a house, I wouldn't buy any pre quakes house, repaired or not & would only consider a new post quakes house built on TC1 or TC2 land. House auctions looked like real estate agents' rats' nests, whereby ghosts could be sold with little control over repairs being done, or not. There was nothing stopping owners of quake damaged housing doing cosmetic repairs, paint here, asphalt there, pocketing EQC's or insurers' cash payouts & flogging their damaged properties without full repairs.
Never a dull moment in post quake Christchurch regarding repairs & rebuilds. Clyde Rd: I'd recently seen a raised, 2 storey house railed across the garden from its old, quake damaged foundation, to a new concrete slab foundation, next to a new post quake garage. Rebuild post quake style. 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:
Sept 2015: The Press would report that many quake 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 5 years post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, many home owners still waited for incompetent EQC to decide whether their home repairs were under cap, or over cap. Crown insurer, Southern Response then blamed incompetent EQC for delays in over cap decisions. What a farce. If NZ National govt'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 had reported for years about EQC's mishandling of quake damaged, 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 had led the protest. Former mayor Moore, former Labour MP & current mayor Dalziel, current councillor Livingstone & former councillor Carter were there.
Reckoning: CERA minister Brownlee oversaw a systematic shafting of 1000s of Canterbury homeowners, due to EQC's under assessments, shoddy repairs & risibly slow decisions regarding $100 000 undercap & overcap housing. There'd already been EQC Truths blogger, a former employee at EQC's Wellington office, who whistle-blew leaked EQC documents. Then there was silencing court action by EQC & the Solicitor General. EQC Truths whistle-blower had fled overseas & silenced 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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