Property developer donates soil to Christchurch rebuild

A property developer has donated 2000m3 of soil in return for 200m3 of recycled rubble from quake-damaged buildings in Christchurch. Photo / The Star

A Christchurch property developer has swapped rubble from demolished quake-damaged buildings for 120 truckloads of soil to help bring some greenery back to the devastated city centre.

Prestons residential development on the northern outskirts of the Christchurch has donated 2000m3 of soil.

In return, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) is giving Prestons Road Ltd 200m3 of recycled rubble to be used as base material for roads inside the development.

"We had soil that was surplus to our needs, and we knew that Cera needed soil in the CBD as part of its greening and cleaning up of the CBD," said David Schwartfeger, chairman of Prestons Road.