A Christchurch city councillor says cost cutting is the real reason behind the Anglican cathedral's deconstruction.
It began on Monday with two cranes rolling in to start removing the building's stained glass windows and spire.
Aaron Keown says the Anglican Church has used the extensive damage caused by last year's February earthquake as an excuse to replace the cathedral with a more modern and cost effective building.
Mr Keown says the cathedral's running costs were about $5 million a year, which was not sustainable.
But a spokesperson for the Anglican Church says safety is the number one reason that all but the bottom two or three metres are being removed.
Mr Keown says he will not believe that until he sees the official engineering recommendations.
The spokesperson says because of the large amount of information, it is not practical to release the reports to the public.
