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Christchurch City Council’s decision to spend $127.5 million fixing the Town Hall means not all the land currently designated for the city’s Performing Arts Precinct is required, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

“In fairness to private property owners I have signed off lifting the designation on 1.07 hectares of land that was originally earmarked for purchase by the Crown for the Performing Arts Precinct.”

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed today’s announcement of a community participation process to gather ideas about future use of the region’s residential red zones.

In total more than 7300 flat land properties in Christchurch and Kaiapoi were zoned red due to the degree of land damage caused by the earthquakes. Eligible property owners in the Port Hills have to 31 August 2014 to accept the voluntary Crown offer.

Christchurch’s new $53 million Bus Interchange promises to be a state of the art, user-friendly facility, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

Mr Brownlee today released images of preliminary designs for the Crown-led anchor project which will provide a new public transport hub replacing the city’s earthquake damaged facility.

A partnership between the Crown and the private sector will ensure Christchurch’s iconic Re:START Mall continues operating with the use of another central city location, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

The arrangement will see Re:START Mall retailers located on the northern side of Cashel Mall shift to a combination of Crown-owned and private land in the area of the Retail Precinct bounded by Oxford Terrace, Cashel Street, Plymouth Lane and Lichfield Street.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says Canterbury is leading the way for how the construction sector will work in the rest of New Zealand with innovative approaches to housing manufacturing starting to appear.

Mr Brownlee and the Prime Minister John Key today attended the announcement of a joint venture between two Christchurch-based companies to build and operate New Zealand’s first major panelised building factory.

A programme that has assisted vulnerable households with emergency repairs for earthquake damage will be used to assist those affected by the flooding currently impacting on Greater Christchurch, says Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee.

Mr Brownlee, who has travelled to Christchurch today to look at how the Crown can assist the Christchurch City Council-led response to the flooding, has directed that the existing Winter Make it Right programme be made available to help those with housing issues that will need addressing but are not emergencies.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the development of housing within Christchurch’s new frame will provide exciting opportunities for inner-city living and help with renewal of the central city.

The first call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for working with the Crown to develop the new community has been released today through the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS).

Mr Brownlee says the new community will comprise around 750 medium density homes in a mix of four to six storey townhouses and apartments.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson today announced no safety problems have been found in a random audit of building consents issued by Christchurch City Council.

International Accreditation New Zealand revoked the council’s building consent accreditation in July 2013 following its inability to bring its processes up to the required standard.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson say the release of further census information about Christchurch will provide much needed information for the rebuild.

Mr Brownlee says data released by Statistics New Zealand today shows just how much the region has changed following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the latest work in the $96 million Avon River Precinct will build upon the start made last year at Watermark, extending the restoration and revitalisation work on the Avon River all the way across the CBD to Fitzgerald Ave.

“At 3.2km and stretching up to 30 metres either side of the Avon River this is possibly the largest urban river restoration programme in New Zealand,” Mr Brownlee says.

Proposals are being sought for the development of about 275 affordable homes on an 11.5 hectare site in Hornby, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith announced today.

“We need to increase housing supply to assist with Christchurch’s recovery and we need more housing in the affordable range,” Mr Brownlee says.

“This proposal is about facilitating the private sector to develop land the Government owns to address Christchurch’s housing needs.”

A $200 million insurance settlement for earthquake damage to Canterbury schools is an important confidence boost to the education sector in the region says Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye.

Mr Brownlee says today’s settlement between the Ministry of Education and Vero Insurance is one of the largest insurance pay outs in New Zealand’s history.

Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission Gerry Brownlee says contractors working with EQC have now repaired around two-thirds of the damaged homes EQC is responsible for in greater Christchurch, having this week passed the 50,000 repairs mark.

“To date EQC’s project managed repair programme has completed 50,174 earthquake repairs below the $100,000 per-event cap, so the end of the scheme is very much in sight,” Mr Brownlee says.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says construction and development scheduled across 2014 will ensure a high level of confidence in the Christchurch rebuild.

“The Justice and Emergency Services Precinct is one of the first cabs off the rank and today’s sod-turning is yet another milestone achievement.

“In fact of the 16 Anchor Projects, nine will start construction in some form this year,” Mr Brownlee says.

Those nine projects are:

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says with 2013 drawing to a close it is timely to acknowledge the amount of work that has gone into preparation for the full-scale construction of central Christchurch’s anchor projects.

“Over 2013 work on many of the 17 Anchor Projects has ramped up, starting with the necessary planning, proposals and contracting,” Mr Brownlee says.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced an extension for consideration of the Crown’s offer for eligible property owners in the Port Hills residential red zone.

Eligible red zone property owners will now have until 31 August 2014, instead of 31 March 2014, to decide whether to accept the Crown’s offer to purchase properties deemed to have an unacceptable level of life risk from rock roll and cliff collapse.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the creation of the Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP) will go a long way towards easing housing pressures, with new options for development across greater Christchurch.

“The LURP provides certainty across the community, informing land owners, infrastructure providers and others by outlining new areas that can be developed for new housing and businesses,” Mr Brownlee says.

Results of the Port Hills Zoning Review announced today will give property owners certainty and provide options for people to move on from areas posing a serious risk to life, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

The outcome of the review of all zoned properties in the Port Hills means a change of zoning for 270 properties – with 237 going from green zone to red zone, and 33 going from red to green.

A world-leading project to transform Christchurch into a smart city of the future and create opportunities for New Zealand’s tech sector is to receive support from Callaghan Innovation, the Government’s new High Tech HQ for business.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says he is very pleased by the Court of Appeal’s finding, released today, that the residential red zoning of the most damaged parts of greater Christchurch was lawful, and that the process was well conducted.

Measures to clarify the tax treatment of certain employee allowances and reimbursements included in a tax bill introduced to Parliament today will be welcome news for employers and employees involved in Canterbury earthquake recovery work, say Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says he’s deeply disappointed Christchurch City Council has not endorsed the Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP) it was considering at its meeting today.

“This very important plan has been developed over the past two years by Environment Canterbury, the Selwyn and Waimakariri District Councils and the Christchurch City Council, in conjunction with Ngāi Tahu, the NZ Transport Agency and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA).

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister and Education Minister Hekia Parata today announced that 80 per cent of classrooms across greater Christchurch will be modernised within ten years changing the way children and young people learn.

The Government is investing over $1 billion in a 10 year programme of restoring and renewing the schools in greater Christchurch following the earthquakes.

The Government today released the final Business Case and outlined the schedule for rebuilding, repairing and renewing 115 schools across greater Christchurch.

That includes:

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister and Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission Gerry Brownlee says Labour’s policy of establishing a state-owned insurer is no different than its other half-formed ideas – it’s emotive, shows a hopeless grasp of economic realities, and raises questions Labour won’t be able to credibly answer.

“Labour might hate private insurance companies, but the reality is they’re paying for $20 billion of the Canterbury rebuild - twice New Zealand’s annual corporate tax take,” Mr Brownlee says.