Christchurch Arts Centre
The Christchurch Arts Centre is an iconic space in the heart of Christchurch that is a cultural hub for performing arts, music and theatre.
Following the Canterbury Earthquakes, the Arts Centre was badly damaged. As there were many historical heritage sites within the centre, a complex restoration project was initiated in 2012 with the goal of reopening the area for the people of Christchurch. In 2023, The Connect Group we were charged with implementing mobile blasting, soda blasting, hydro scabbling and passive fire protection solutions to historic building site.
As a heritage site, the Christchurch Arts Centre possessed many challenges, we had to be highly meticulous in assisting the project managers to not only restore but enhance the centre’s integrity and longevity. The damage that the earthquakes caused meant that strengthening included new foundations, walls, floors and a completely new roof. We primarily worked with Leighs Construction on this project in the asset protection of three primary buildings originally constructed in the late 1800s. Our Blasting & Coatings team utilised their skills in multi-media blasting by using high-pressure media to clean and prepare surfaces in The Arts Centre, while our hydro demolition team utilised concrete scabbling to roughen surfaces that needed coating or repair. The challenge that our team had was that we had to maintain the building’s appearance and structure to a likeness of what it once was, because of its heritage building status. Further to this we had extensive passive fire protection work to undertake to ensure that the reconstructed and repaired Arts Centre buildings were safe for occupants.
After an extensive planning and restoration process from 2019 to 2023, we made a significant contribution to restoring the arts centre to what it once was, protecting the asset and its occupants for future generations. As more buildings opened, more people from Christchurch flooded back to the area to enjoy the space.