Burdon donates another $4 million to save cathedral restoration

Christchurch businessman and former politician Philip Burdon has donated another $4 million to the restoration of the Christ Church Cathedral on top of his original $1m gift made soon after the 2011 earthquakes.

It comes ahead of a vital fundraising campaign to be launched in March to raise up to $26m by October to keep the restoration project on track.

Burdon, who successfully campaigned to save the cathedral from demolition with the late Jim Anderton, said he was confident the multimillion-dollar funding shortfall for the $154.3m restoration project could be raised.

But he said he was ‘‘under no illusion that this is a great deal of money to be asking the community to contribute’’. The majority of donations would probably come from the Canterbury community, he said.

‘‘This is essentially a Christchurch responsibility and ... the bulk of the outstanding funds will have to be raised from within our own community if the project is to succeed.’’

He believed the next stage of restoration could go ahead with a lower fundraising target than previously stated.

In October last year, project leaders said the restoration would cost $154.3m and they already had $103.1m, leaving a shortfall of $51.2m.

They said $26m needed to be raised by October this year to begin the next phase of work and keep the project on track for completion by 2028.

But Burdon said the next phase could go ahead in October if just $15m had been raised in time. ‘‘The projected requirement to complete the next stage is costed at $23m with $15m being assessed as the minimum figure necessary before contracts can be let.

‘‘I believe it can be pruned a bit. It is my informed opinion that we can make it work if we really have to.’’

Burdon said he would be ‘‘profoundly sorry’’ if the project had to be delayed for lack of additional funds. A major public fundraising drive would be launched in March, he said.

‘‘The fundraising events over the next few months are going to be the moment of truth for the restoration campaign to proceed on schedule.’’

Burdon is a member of the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust, which oversees fundraising for the project.

The cathedral is currently being stabilised, with large steel frames being installed on the outside of the building.

This phase is fully funded, will cost about $11.8m, and take about two years.

The next phase is strengthening and reinstatement. Funding will need to be in place for that phase by October. Funding for a new cafe, museum and events space will need to be raised by the middle of 2022, and for the new tower by the middle of 2023.

Burdon said he made the large donation because of a ‘‘very personal belief in the unique historical and heritage significance of the cathedral’’.

‘‘It is an utterly irreplaceable part of our heritage.’’

In October, the project had $103.1m in funding, including $53m from insurance, $6m in lotteries funding, $25m from the Government, $10m from the Christchurch City Council, and $9.1m in personal donations.

The Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project was unable to respond immediately to Burdon’s fundraising assessment.

Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust chairman Peter Guthrey said he was confident the next phase of restoration would go ahead on time.

‘‘There’s a lot of discussion at the moment around how much will be needed to begin the next phase of work in October,’’ he said.

‘‘We are confident the project will be kept on track – we all know how important this is to Christchurch and are grateful that we are getting a lot of support.’’

The council’s $10m grant was being funded by a targeted rate of $12 a year for six years. The grant would only be called upon once other sources like insurance, donations and government contributions had been used. The grant size would be adjusted if cathedral fundraising targets were exceeded.

A council spokeswoman said it was too early to say if the targeted rate would be paid back to ratepayers if the grant was not required.

‘‘The fundraising events over the next few months are going to be the moment of truth . . .’’

Philip Burdon, left