Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement

We provided early contractor involvement (ECI) services and acted as the main contractor for the two-and-a-half-year stabilisation stage of the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement. The tower and western façade of the Cathedral partially collapsed in the 2011 earthquake and the rest of the unreinforced masonry structure suffered significant cracking and displacement.

Our ECI input included buildability advice, value engineering, costing and procurement planning. We worked closely with the structural engineering consultant Holmes to plan the safe and efficient structural sequencing and detailing of the massive steel global stabilisation frames. We also effectively managed sub-consultants to provide structural temporary works designs for steel lift planning, propping and mitigation of local stability hazards.

We were on site for just over two years before the Cathedral was safe enough to enter, with all work up to that point completed from a safe distance outside the structure. Even the clean-up of 250 tonnes of rubble and biohazards inside the Cathedral was accomplished using a remote control digger, a world-first innovation that was suggested, investigated and implemented by our team.

We’re now well underway with the next stage of the project, strengthening the superstructure in preparation for new foundations and base isolation.