Christ Church Cathedral can be rebuilt

The future of Christ Church Cathedral is still up in the air, after the release of a government sponsored report this afternoon.

There was huge crowd in Cathedral Square today waiting for the release of Miriam Dean's report.

The 44 page document reveals that "replacing the cathedral presents no particular challenges from an engineering perspective."

• Photos: Christ Church Cathedral

"What would be required is a combination of repair, restoration, reconstruction and seismic strengthening."

The restored cathedral would furthermore be "indistinguishable from the pre-earthquake building."

Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee said the report will be greatly appreciated by the wider community.

"The issue then comes back to cost and that is something the Church Property Trust will need absolute certainty of before it can commit to any work going ahead."

Brownlee said the affordability will be the main decider of the rebuild.