New Council service to help Central City rebuild

Property owners and businesses looking to redevelop or relocate to Christchurch’s Central City have a new dedicated service to help get them started.

The Christchurch City Council has launched Rebuild Central at 36 Lichfield Street, a one-stop service for property owners and businesses who want resource and building consent advice and planning assistance with their plans to be located in the Central City.

The Council’s CEO Tony Marryatt says located on site are a team of professionals dedicated to the rebuild of the Central City. “This includes urban designers, planners, designers, resource consent and building consent experts and specialists in the areas of sustainability, public spaces and economics.

“Many of these are the same team who worked on the Council’s draft Central City Plan and have a strong understanding of what is required to rebuild the Central City and make it a vibrant, prosperous place.”

He says the Rebuild Central team have been working with property owners and businesses, as well as investors, since the beginning of the year to help facilitate the rebuild.

“The team are able to assist with a variety of inquiries from site-specific projects and the strategic location of new and returning businesses within the four avenues to providing advice on the development of precincts, offering design and planning advice for co-ordinated development within a precinct, street and/or block, and assigning case managers to help developers navigate the Council’s resource and building consent process.”

Mr Marryatt says Rebuild Central is able to assist those developing property outside The Frame, as identified in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, and also in the Lyttelton and Sydenham Master Plan areas.

“The first step for those looking to redevelop in the Central City is to understand what is happening in the area and how they can connect with others developing in the same area. Our Recovery Co-ordinators will be able to help with this information.

“This will ensure we have better development outcomes and we create places and spaces in line with the aspirations our community shared last year as part of the Share an Idea consultation.”

He says the new service is about making it as easy as possible for those property owners looking to be part of the Central City rebuild.

“A case manager will ensure property developers have someone to help them navigate their way through the resource consent and building consent process and ensure applications are processed in a timely manner.”
For more information email rebuildcentral@ccc.govt.nz for an appointment.