Cardboard cathedral wins time extension

Christchurch’s cardboard cathedral has become a permanent fixture for the city after the Anglican church was granted last-minute permission to keep the building.

The $5.3 million Transitional Cathedral was built in 2012 and 2013 under emergency legislation as a temporary replacement for the earthquake-wrecked Christ Church Cathedral. That legislation allowed consents lasting until June 30 this year, 10 years after the quakes.

The cardboard cathedral was designed by award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who specialises in disaster recovery architecture.

With the consent expiry approaching, the Church Property Trustees applied to the city council for resource consent to allow the building to remain. The consent was granted a few weeks ago.

‘‘It’s an absolute relief,’’ Dean of Christchurch Lawrence Kimberley said.

‘‘Suddenly the 10-year deadline started to loom. The last thing we needed for the authority to lapse and the council to say we couldn’t use the building because it wasn’t consented.

‘‘We need to have security of tenure in order to be able to have a church there.’’

The Anglican stone cathedral in Cathedral Square, now deconsecrated, is due to reopen after repair in 2027.

The cardboard cathedral was allowed to be built opposite Latimer Square despite being over the permitted height for the site, and not meeting other requirements such as landscaping.

Hearing the resource consent application, the council agreed any adverse effects from letting the noncompliant building remain were minor and acceptable.

The cardboard cathedral would have had to be removed if it did not get consent.

Kimberley said the building’s temporary label related to its use as a cathedral, not its lifespan.

He said while officially described as having a 20-year life, the building was robust and could last 50 years if properly maintained.

‘‘That is a going to be a challenge – maintenance issues are going to start coming up.’’

The A-frame building was constructed with polyurethane cardboard tubes, reinforced with timber beams. The structure is stabilised by shipping containers and topped with a polycarbonate roof.

‘‘The cardboard is quite an interesting material, it contracts and expands a lot more with changing temperature and humidity,’’ Kimberley said.

‘‘We are waiting to see how the roof performs over time, with New Zealand’s really strong sun and UV.’’

The new consent will also allow temporary cathedral offices to be built alongside. They will replace shipping containers, which will be repurposed for storage.

Plans to build a bell tower in a stack of shipping containers were put aside in the rush to secure consent, but may be picked up later, Kimberley said.

The cathedral is used for prayer service three times a day, and is also available for public events such as concerts, conferences, and community gatherings. Lawrence said that was what Ban intended.

‘‘He wanted us to make it a gathering place, not just as a church but for the whole community. We are honouring that.

‘‘It was built as a sign of hope. It has become iconic in its own right, and it’s a building that has become internationally known.’’

In 2012 the church’s request for ratepayers to contribute $240,000 annually to the temporary cathedral’s maintenance was turned down by the city council.

The Anglican church is one of the city’s biggest private property owners, with revenue-earning assets including commercial and residential property.

Anglican church property in New Zealand was estimated in the recent He waka eke noa report to be worth more than $3 billion.

St John the Baptist church previously occupied the cardboard cathedral site, but the parish has renamed itself Latimer Church and moved to the suburb of St Albans.

Kimberley said that change left the original plan to turn the cardboard cathedral building over to St John up in the air.

He said decisions about whether the building might eventually be sold or put to another use after Christ Church Cathedral reopens had not been made. ‘‘We’ve got a few years to think about that.’’

‘‘We need to have security of tenure in order to be able to have a church there.’’ Lawrence Kimberley Dean of Christchurch