15 Oct 2015

Christchurch Council to spend $10m to protect Old Municipal Chambers

7:04 pm on 15 October 2015

Christchurch City Council has voted to spend $10 million protecting the historic Old Municipal Chambers because of its deteriorating state.

The building - which was the first Queen Anne arts and craft style building in New Zealand - has been boarded up for nearly five years due to significant earthquake damage.

The cash-strapped council is taking money to better protect it from the elements from the $40 million already allocated to repairing the quake-damaged Canterbury Provincial Chambers.

However, neither building is scheduled to be fully repaired in the short or medium term, because of a lack of money.