Charlie Gates18:18, Apr 29 2021
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF
Sue Spigel was in the Christ Church Cathedral during the 2011 earthquake. A decade on, she has just been reunited with her items.
The Anglicans’ ruling body may have to change its approval terms for restoration of the Christ Church Cathedral to avoid work stopping in October if more funds cannot be found. When the Anglican Synod approved restoration of the cathedral in 2017, the terms stipulated that each stage could only go ahead if the full funding for that stage was already in place. At least $103 million is currently in place for the project, which is expected to cost approximately $154m. The first stage, which involves stabilising the cathedral with large steel frames, is under way and will cost $11.8m.
Stacy Squires/Stuff
Philip Burdon, pictured here in 2018, had already donated $1m to restoration of Christ Church Cathedral and helped campaign to save the building from demolition.
Christchurch businessman and former politician Philip Burdon has donated another $4 million to the restoration of the Christ Church Cathedral on top of his original $1m gift made soon after the 2011 earthquakes. It comes ahead of a fundraising campaign to be launched in March to raise up to $26m by October to keep the restoration project on track. Burdon, who successfully campaigned to save the cathedral from demolition with the late Jim Anderton, said he was confident the multimillion-dollar funding shortfall for the $154.3m restoration project could be raised.