The cathedral was badly damaged in the 2010-11 Christchurch earthquakes. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
A meeting will be held on Monday which may decide the future of the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral.
On 9 August, the government said it would not put more money towards the restoration of the cathedral, making it likely that work would now grind to a halt.
The Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Limited group had requested $60 million from the government to help meet a $85m shortfall on the project.
In response to the government decision, CCRL said mothballing was now likely, but that its meeting in Christchurch on Monday would look at all the options.
The group would make a further announcement on the future of the reinstatement this week.
The same week as the government decision was handed down, the Christchurch City Council agreed to fulfil its commitment to release $7 million it had collected from a targeted rate towards the reinstatement of the cathedral.
CCRL said it had also asked the council to pause that funding until a decision had been made on the future of the project.
The council will also hold a public-excluded workshop on Tuesday to discuss the future of the cathedral.
The cost of the planned restoration of the cathedral has risen dramatically in recent years.
In 2017, the cost was estimated at $104 million. That rose to $154m in 2020, then to $248m following a review in April 2024.
At that point CCRL said it had a shortfall in funding of $114m and needed to secure $30m by August or it would need to look at mothballing the project.
The group later conducted a scope review, agreed to in a six-hour synod meeting in June, which would lower seismic strengthening and scrap some elements of the original plan. That review cut the shortfall to $85 million.
That shortfall assumed further fundraising and a contribution from the church.
A proposal to inject $16.2 million by selling off church land and buildings was also agreed at June's synod.
