Rebuild both rushed and tardy

purpose for several weeks yet.

Justice Minister Amy Adams and Prime Minister Bill English went ahead with the opening while construction workers who were still working on the incomplete parts of the precinct were huddled out of sight.

The project was supposed to have been handed over by Fletcher Construction on March 31, then June 30. In July, Adams said the building would open in August. Finally, it ‘‘opened’’ on Monday.

Christchurch people have got used to delays in the anchor projects which were supposed to secure the broader central city rebuild.

They were promulgated in the so-called central city 100-day blueprint. The 100 days referred to how long it took to draw up the plan, which was then allowed to drift. The fifth anniversary of the blueprint’s release went mostly unremarked on July 30.

The Metro Sports building was originally scheduled to open last March. Expect to see it in 2020.

The Convention Centre was also supposed to be opening about now, and a large medical conference was booked for early next year. It is also now due in the first quarter of 2020.

The future of the stadium is anyone’s guess.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine why the blueprint had to be drawn up within 100 days – why there was such a compelling need to crack on with the job. Especially as there is now a lingering sense that an opportunity to create the city we really wanted has somehow been squandered.

To turn to a non-anchor project example, if it was known that it would take seven years to decide the fate of Christ Church Cathedral and probably another 10 years to rebuild it, people could have got used to the fact that fixing the damage would be an intergenerational task.

Thirteen-hundred buildings were destroyed within the Four Avenues. Simple maths tells us that even if they could be replaced at the average of one a week, putting the city back together would be a 25-year endeavour.

On that scale, the Justice Precinct is indeed a significant step in the rebuild, but only one of many that needed to be taken. But the courts, the police, Civil Defence now have a new home. Christchurch has a substantial new asset. And it is better late than never. - Stuff