Transfer of Crown-owned Christchurch residential red zone complete

Toitū Te Whenua recently finished a mammoth piece of work that marked the end of the Crown’s 12-year post-earthquake recovery programme in Christchurch.

Toitū Te Whenua recently finished a mammoth piece of work that marked the end of the Crown’s 12-year post-earthquake recovery programme in Christchurch.

The significant milestone was achieved earlier this year when we transferred the final block of Crown-owned residential red zone land to Christchurch City Council. This final transfer also ended our lead responsibilities for the city’s recovery and regeneration following the Canterbury earthquakes.

The achievement was marked with an event in Christchurch’s residential red zone yesterday, hosted by Minister for Land Information Damien O’Connor and city Mayor Phil Mauger.

It was held at Dallington Landing, located in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor which is the location of the final block of land to transfer to the Council. The location is an exemplar of how the vision for the city’s regeneration is being realised, says Toitū Te Whenua CE Adrienne Meikle. 

“Transferring ownership of Crown-owned red zone land along the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor was the final stage of a phased process that started in 2019 – and it was a huge achievement in itself.

“Extensive work carried out by Toitū Te Whenua – from site clearances and maintenance to survey and title work – has enabled the Council to use it immediately for regeneration purposes, with many of their projects already underway. 

“In the river corridor alone, our teams cleansed and amalgamated about 5,500 property titles across 600ha, creating new fit-for-purpose lots that aligned with different land uses anticipated in the river corridor’s 2019 Regeneration Plan.

“Our teams worked in partnership with the Council on the phased transfer of this land, meaning many of their projects are already underway or complete – such as Dallington Landing where we stand today.”

• Visit the Council’s website for updates on their river corridor regeneration projects: Christchurch City Council

A long-term programme of work

Toitū Te Whenua has led this programme of work since 2015 when we inherited responsibility for Crown-owned residential red zone land from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). This land was then progressively transferred to local leaders from 2019.

• See a timeline of our Christchurch regeneration work: Progress timeline
• Watch a video about some of the 2,800 projects we facilitated while managing land in the river corridor: 
  In the Zone

In 2016, we took over the management of CERA-owned central business district land for Christchurch anchor projects, with this including demolition of commercial buildings, stopping roads, surveying, and completing the remaining acquisitions.

Acquiring the final pieces of central city land for Christchurch’s anchor projects was completed in June 2021, with work on all the anchor projects and precincts now either underway or complete. 

• Read more about the anchor projects we acquired land for: Land acquisitions for Christchurch anchor projects