Conserving Christchurch’s Heritage Buildings

An often undervalued area of architecture, the Christchurch earthquakes have recently brought built heritage conservation back into the spotlight.

Along with others in the heritage community, I have been devastated to see the level of destruction caused by the quakes; and have been deeply angered by the senseless demolition of buildings that could be saved, and by the lack of process surrounding how these buildings should be treated.  As members of the architectural community, it is our job to educate the public about the extraordinary value of heritage buildings, not just as objects of beauty, but as vital contributors to our urban environments, as sources of information about our past, and as buildings for our future that offer many opportunities for adaptive reuse and are a much lower embodied energy alternative to new building.

We need to lead the charge against senseless destruction, and help to ensure that proper deconstruction and reconstruction techniques are adopted to save as much of the nation’s heritage as we can.  In the Wellington Office we have been actively pursuing all the opportunities we can to secure work in Christchurch with this aim in mind, and hope that S&T will be a key player in the rebuilding of this beautiful city.

- Posted April 29, 2011