Rebuild and repair of Council facilities to accelerate

Mayor Lianne Dalziel has today announced Christchurch City Council is committing more than $40 million to fast-track the repair and rebuild of 'priority' community and heritage facilities across the city and Banks Peninsula.

At an Earthquake Recovery Committee of the Whole meeting at North Brighton Community Centre, Mayor Dalziel said the Council had set aside a total of $29,087,059 for the repair and rebuild of community facilities and a further $11,703,596 for heritage facilities.

An additional $5 million has also been allocated to a hot salt water pool 'legacy' project at New Brighton.

The funding will come from the Council's Facilities and Infrastructure Improvement New Borrowing Allowance ahead of insurance discussions being finalised on the facilities. The proceeds of any insurance claim will be returned to the allowance.

Mayor Dalziel says work will begin immediately on many of the facilities now that funding has been approved. The focus is on repairing earthquake-damaged buildings that are closed and rebuilding facilities that have been demolished. It is expected that much of the repair work will be completed within the next year and it is likely to take up to two years for all the new priority facilities to be rebuilt. Staff will be developing a programme of works for the delivery of these projects and this will be available within eight weeks.

"Making a decision on which facilities to prioritise for funding has been based on feedback to community boards about the facilities residents want to see repaired and rebuilt.

"This is a very real signal that we are committed to continuing to repair and rebuilding the facilities that matter the most to our residents. I'm pleased to be able to announce that we are pushing ahead with returning these facilities to the people of Christchurch on the anniversary of the 4 September earthquake, which changed our city forever. The priority facilities are situated across the city and Banks Peninsula so there's something for everyone in this mix," Mayor Dalziel says.

"While the Council has already carried out repairs to facilities across the city, we recognise that it's time to accelerate this process, which is why we've made the decision to commit funding before completing our insurance discussions on these priority facilities."

Mayor Dalziel says while these facilities have been prioritised for funding now, work will be carried out on other facilities not on the prioritised list once the Council's insurance discussions have been resolved.
The Council will also be continuing to look for other funding sources for the rebuild of its community facilities.

"The Council has already been fortunate enough to secure funding from philanthropic sources for the rebuild of some of its community facilities, for example the new Aranui Community Centre, and we'll be seeking advice on how we can approach other funders," Lianne Dalziel says.

Mayor Dalziel says the inclusion of $5 million for the New Brighton legacy project shows the Council is "absolutely committed" to the project.

For a full list of the priority community facilities that have received funding visit www.ccc.govt.nz/PriorityFacilities and www.ccc.govt.nz/PriorityHeritage. Please note that the facilities are not in any particular order for repair or rebuild.

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