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Home / Sponsored Stories

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A city of opportunity

24 Sep, 2017 06:00 PM
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By: Greg Fleming and Tourism Australia

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Christchurch is a city of ribbon-cutting, as New Zealand’s oldest city becomes its newest, six years into a NZD40 billion regeneration programme. By Venue editor Greg Fleming.

Christchurch is open and ready for business.

There's a renewed downtown area - new restaurants and bars open along the Avon - and a swathe of quality infrastructure under construction. There's even been a decision made regards rebuilding the iconic Cathedral - it's a go.

That's not to discount the enormity of the tragedy in 2011 - the 185 victims of the quake are movingly commemorated in Peter Majendie's empty chair sculpture on the corner of Cashel and Madras Street and on the Memorial Wall on the banks of the Avon River - just that the accelerated recovery is revealing a renewed city of business growth and opportunity.

The CBD is now home to new green spaces with the Otakaro/Avon River precinct as its centrepiece, while a state of-the-art conference centre is due for completion in 2020.
A new Crowne Plaza hotel opened in July adding another 204 4 star hotel rooms to the already new and refurbished hotel stock.

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Indeed there're four new hotel projects underway and another three about to start construction, giving the city plenty of hotel accommodation stock to bid for large conferences.

Christchurch Councillor Deon Swiggs, who represents the Central Ward, says designers have taken inspiration from cities like Melbourne and Copenhagen.

Photo / supplied.
Photo / supplied.

Conference city

As the shipping containers - which were used for retail outlets post-quake - go new tenants are moving into purpose built buildings and the convention industry is gearing up for an exciting future, concentrating on Australia as an area of growth.

"Tourism NZ Business Events has been very supportive of Christchurch as we re-emerge as a major NZ conference destination once again," says Mr Swiggs.

"The strategy was to incrementally increase our exposure to this market as capacity improved and we are now at a point where we are back as a contender in the Australasian conference market and being considered for the Australian conference rotation cycle once again. They tell us that they have missed Christchurch as a destination.

"Not a lot of people know that Christchurch held 24% of all conferencing in NZ and could boast 42% of Australian conference business. We intend to exceed that in coming years."
ChristchurchNZ Convention Bureau Manager Caroline Blanchfield says new venues, shops, restaurants, restored heritage and generous green spaces are opening every month.

"We are unveiling an impressive new built environment around our river, parks and gardens, drawing on the city's rich cultural and natural heritage and designed with people at its heart," she says.

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Openings in the last year include The Terraces waterfront promenade, the heritage neo-Gothic Arts Centre restoration, The Piano - Centre for Music and Arts, the $26 million Christchurch Adventure Park, and Christchurch's Innovation Precinct. Major banks and many government departments have all moved back into the city centre bringing thousands of their staff to smart, new offices.

Photo / supplied.
Photo / supplied.

International retail giants are moving into Christchurch too, creating sophisticated shopping along the Cashel Mall pedestrian area, with plenty of excellent laneway dining and cafes. This year will see completion of major new retail, office, health and hotel and apartment complexes, bringing a real buzz to the central city.

She says that the focus is on pedestrian-friendly shopping, dining, arts and entertainment.

In the heart of the CBD on a prime riverfront site, Christchurch's convention centre - to be called simply The Christchurch Centre - will be a world-class boutique facility of major architectural significance for 200 to 2000 delegates.

Designed by international firm Woods Bagot its central, walkable location, cultural and heritage references, and flexible design layout are key features. Stories of local Maori interwoven through every aspect of the design.

"With its expansive auditorium and significant exhibition space the Convention Centre will open Christchurch up to an array of large domestic, Australasian and international conferences. Our analysis puts its direct economic benefit to the local economy at over $90m a year."

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