New Central City Tool Lendery opens its doors!

A new community resource has popped up in town: the Tool Lendery, Christchurch Central, and it is about to have its official launch!

On Saturday, 10th August, from 12-4pm, "An Official Launch" will take place – inviting residents of Christchurch to check out the Tool Lendery, sign up as a member, take part in hands-on activities (such as tool demonstrations) and enjoy some kai from the neighbouring 03Eatery.

The Tool Lendery in Christchurch Central, situated at 178 Cashel Street, is a community “tool library” that exists to provide Ōtautahi residents with access to handy tools for home use. The aim is to not only provide the convenience of hiring a tool you might otherwise have to buy, but also to create a very practical reason for local residents to get together, learn new skills and build community. By borrowing tools, people can save money, free up space at home, and act in a more sustainable manner. A custom-built workshop that accompanies the Tool Lendery space, will shortly begin hosting a diverse range of workshops.

“The average power drill gets used about 12 minutes during its entire life, so it makes sense to share under-utilised resources for a fraction of the cost of buying them” says Gap Filler Project Developer Rhiannon Josland.

Gap Filler has been testing out the Tool Lendery for a few weeks now to check everything is in order, and is now open for regular hours at the handy central location of 178 Cashel Street: Wednesdays 4-6pm and Saturdays 1-3pm.

“We’ve had really positive reactions from the public so far,” says Josland, “the purple container that houses the Tool Lendery really stands out on Manchester Street, and people always stop by and tell us how great an idea they think it is. We’ve already had a bunch of happy customers, borrowing tools for both chores and at-home projects”.

This project is part of the Placemaking At One Central programme, a partnership between Fletcher Living and Gap Filler to help create great central city residential communities.

It is especially useful for those who have all the convenience of living in the inner-city, but no space for a garage or workshop. It offers a valuable resource to those moving into the city centre as higher-density neighbourhoods, such as Fletcher Living’s One Central, development are completed.

“This community resource has especially been designed to meet the needs of inner-city residents” says Project Developer Rhiannon Josland, “typically they will be living in smaller dwellings with minimal storage space, so this provides them with a handy resource to borrow tools for chores or DIY projects that they may only use a handful of times. Gap Filler is increasingly interested in how we can experiment with collective ownership and shared resources in light of the impacts of climate change. We need to be living in more sustainable ways.”

For more information, please do get in touch – or visit the Tool Lendery website below. We’re also on Facebook and Instagram.

© Scoop Media