Pigeon poo gives way to the new

When the new owners stood inside their purchase at 235 High St, they found themselves thigh deep in pigeon droppings.

The building had narrowly escaped demolition after the quakes, lost a storey, attracted taggers and landed on the city council’s ‘‘Dirty 30’’ list.

But the central Christchurch building, formerly the Hunters and Collectors fashion store which has sat vacant since the quakes, will soon be back in business.

It is now owned by Tom Harding, Michael Fisher and Alex Brennan, whose company Qb develops co-working office studios in Christchurch and Auckland.

Their plan is to renovate the High St building, then construct a larger glassfronted interconnecting building on the bare former Cosmic Corner site next door. The two will be linked by a full-height atrium to let in the light, creating Qb’s newest suite of office studios.

The renovation should be finished by August, with a cafe run by established Christchurch operators Jenny and Sung Park on the ground floor.

The new building is due to be completed next year.

It is a model which Qb has refined since opening its first such office building 10 years ago in Addington, progressing to similar projects in Auckland suburbs including Ponsonby, Parnell and Newmarket, and a former rubber factory and warehouse with a new structure added between Southwark and St Asaph streets in Christchurch.

Brennan said the co-working trend began overseas and suited the increasingly flexible working styles of the past few years. Their Southwark/St Asaph complex has been full for 18 months, with a waiting list.

Qb bought the High St property and the adjacent site in 2021, both from Hunters and Collectors owner Jason Dean.

All but the top floor survived the quakes and the threat of demolition.

The city council included it on its list of sites considered barriers to the rebuild – the so-called Dirty 30.

‘‘When you look behind the damaged facades, it is intact,’’ Harding said, acknowledging that saving an old building and linking it to a new one was an expensive project and a trial for architects.

‘‘Christchurch used to have so many beautiful buildings. It is a good thing if you can retain a bit of heritage, hopefully without too much cost.’’

The building is being completely refurbished, with interior glass walls separating offices from communal spaces.

Heritage features such as brick walls, a kauri ceiling, timber floors and decorative columns are being retained but the facade will change.

Fisher said it was almost like building from scratch but they were ‘‘saving as much as we can’’ of the original structure.

Occupants will pay by the desk rather than the square metre and will share meeting rooms, kitchens and other communal spaces, with membership covering costs such as power, tech, security and cleaning.

Harding said their office studios allowed for working flexibility and were occupied by member businesses in the same way people joined a gym. The model also allowed businesses to collaborate.

‘‘They pay a slight premium but you are not just getting the space, you are getting a service, like a business club,’’ he said.

Brennan said that while the occupants of their first Christchurch office studios were in the construction or engineering related fields, they were now accommodating tech companies such as Microsoft.

‘‘The way the economy has matured in Christchurch, we have got a lot of international tech companies here now. There has been a migration of businesses from Auckland and Australia, where people might come in and out.

‘‘A lot of businesses leasing a large space say they are finding a lot of people are not in the office.

They might rotate their staff and they are only using 70% of their space.’’

Fisher said the office studios would be fitted out so occupants could concentrate on their core business, which suited businesses with staff who moved around.

‘‘When they walk in here, they just plug in their computers and they are up and running.’’