Dog owner jailed for breaking puppy’s leg

Buyers keen on apartments in Christchurch’s east frame are being kept in the dark about how to secure a home.

Delays mean that six years after the earthquakes and more than four years after the housing project was announced, no construction timeframe is available for the nearly 1000 apartments and terraced townhouses.

Construction on the central city anchor project was meant to have started last month.

The first homes were to have been ready by the middle of next year.

The development is worth $800 million, not counting the cost of the six city blocks of land bought for the project by taxpayers.

Otakaro, the Crown-owned company charged with delivering the city’s rebuild projects, began preparing the site for the east frame’s public spaces earlier this month.

That project is due to be finished in 2018.

However, dates on building the homes themselves remain elusive.

An Otakaro spokesman said work would start as soon as the ‘‘remaining design and commercial issues’’ were finalised. He would not say when this was likely to be.

Chosen developer Fletcher Living said it was still refining ‘‘construction methodology, design and commercial matters’’.

Fletcher Living’s usual marketing method is to advertise and sell completed homes only, rather than selling them off the plans as some developers do.

This means intending buyers will be unable to secure a spot in advance.

A Fletcher spokeswoman suggested would-be buyers check out the east frame website for information.

She also suggested buyers could consider a home in the company’s further advanced Welles St complex Atlas Quarter, or in its Sydenham complex soon to be built on the corner of Colombo and A new home for a red-zoned family and an earthquake rebuild are among four Canterbury buildings to have won national architectural recognition.

During last night’s National Architectural Design Awards, the Cust family home, two Christchurch houses and a Lyttelton restaurant all won awards.

Architectural Designers New Zealand chief executive Astrid Andersen called the winning Canterbury designs a demonstration of architectural excellence.

A ‘‘diverse set of briefs from clients who wanted to push the envelope’’ had led to inspiring work by the designers, Anderson said.

The supreme winner was the new Tanatana marae at Waimana in the Bay of Plenty.

Two of the Canterbury winners were designed by the same architectural designer, Nic Curragh, of Objects Ltd. Brougham streets.

The eastframe.co.nz website, set up to promote the project, still promises a September construction start date for the first apartments.

The site is taking registrations of interest so intending buyers can be sent promotional material. However, no prices, floorplans or detailed designs are included on the site.

Fletcher Living did not reveal

One was the Cust house, designed to replace a family’s redzoned house and named New Zealand’s best in the 150sq m to 300sq m category.

Judges said the design used a simple layout of two parallel pavilions joined by a low-pitched annex. A glazed courtyard between the two pavilions had views of the Southern Alps. how many registrations of interest have been received.

The marketing information on the website does detail the master planning vision for the east frame, plus the area’s history and ‘‘cultural narrative’’. It also includes a video and fly-through views.

Christchurch is aiming to have 20,000 people living between the four avenues by 2024.

Fletcher Living has been contracted by the Crown to develop

The design details contributed to ‘‘a calm resolve and wonderful sense of life’’, they said.

Curragh’s other winning design was Freeman’s restaurant in Lyttelton, winner of the commercial interior award. The judges praised its materials, details, use of space and selection of fittings and fixtures.

‘‘Ordinary materials of a consistently the east frame’s 940 homes over eight to 10 years. The homes will be built in 14 complexes within three neighbourhoods.

The central ‘‘classical and sophisticated’’ Latimer neighbourhood alongside Latimer Square is intended to be built first.

Development will then work outwards towards the Avon neighbourhood promising a ‘‘gentle pace for family life’’ to the north, and the ‘‘green, gritty and urban’’ high quality are detailed in such a way as to make them special,’’ they said.

Both the Christchurch houses to receive national awards are in the city’s north-west suburbs.

A house on Bradnor Rd in Fendalton, by the Wairarapa Stream, designed to replace a home lost in the earthquakes, was named best home over 300sqm. Lichfield neighbourhood to the south.

The east frame will occupy the five blocks bordered by Manchester, Madras, Armagh and Lichfield streets, between the Margaret Mahy playground at one end and the innovation precinct at the other.

Work is under way now widening Manchester St to create a boulevard on the east frame’s western border.

Designed by Don Roy and Cymon Allfrey, of Cymon Allfrey Architects, the L-shaped house sits round a courtyard and is divided by a central corridor with stream views.

The judges called the design an elegant project.

‘‘Set between river and road, the building and landscape intentions are held in a sensitive balance,’’ they said.

The designer of Canterbury’s fourth winner was from the same firm. Craig South, of Cymon Allfrey Architects, won the award for multi-unit housing with a twohome complex in Gleneagles Tce, Ilam.

Judges commented that the design’s two parts created a compositional whole.

‘‘A unifying architectural vocabulary of common elements and details articulate an exemplar of high-end urban infill housing.’’

The awards, announced in Auckland, were contested by about 150 regional winners from around New Zealand. DAMIAN GEORGE Helen Kelly has been described as a determined, inspiring and ambitious public figure. And so, fittingly, she has had the last word.

More than 1500 people gathered at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington yesterday to farewell the former Council of Trade Union president who died earlier this month, aged 52, following a battle with lung cancer.

Among those who paid tribute to the tireless workers’ rights advocate at the memorial service were actress Robyn Malcolm, Wellington mayor Justin Lester, Labour MP Trevor Mallard and CTU president Richard Wagstaff.

Kelly’s husband, Steve Hurring, also spoke, while singer Don McGlashan performed Anchor Me and Kelly’s son, Dylan, performed a song with his band.

But for all the high-profile attendees, it was Kelly who had the last word, with her final television interview closing the service.

‘‘We’re a values-based movement which will never change those values – better wages, safer conditions, respect and dignity at work.

‘‘I want people just to be kind. It would make a hell of a difference.’’

Politicians from all sides of the House turned up to pay their respects to Kelly, including National list MPs Michael Woodhouse and Chris Finlayson and Labour leader Andrew Little.

Kelly was a pioneer for workers’ rights and, after her diagnosis, put the issue of medicinal cannabis on the public agenda.

In August, Kelly travelled to Cuba to seek alternative treatment Both Buddy, a labrador puppy, and the cruel owner who beat him have new homes.

Buddy has gone to a happy home where he can live out his days with only three legs, after one had to be amputated following a prolonged and vicious assault.

His original owner, 26-year-old Christopher John Cross, will be calling Christchurch Men’s Prison home for the next 10 months.

Cross was upset at finding himself jailed by Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan yesterday after admitting a charge of wilful illtreatment of an animal.

Neighbours used a cellphone to record the sound of the May 12 beating at Cross’ Woolston property. The recording showed the beating went on for seven minutes, and included the sound of a dog’s claws being dragged across the floor, yelling and swearing, cracking sounds, and yelping by Buddy.

The puppy’s leg was broken, and he had internal bleeding, lung contusions, and bruising. SPCA prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said Buddy’s leg had to be amputated and he had now been rehomed.

Vanderkolk urged the judge to make little distinction between violence towards humans and towards animals, because of the state of mind involved.

He said: ‘‘There was a for the terminal disease.

Mallard, a lifelong friend of Kelly’s, held back tears as he made a stirring tribute to the trade unionist’s efforts in the political arena. ‘‘Helen will be remembered when the news tells us that we’ve gone a whole year without a death of someone working on farms,’’ Mallard said, receiving a rapturous ovation.

‘‘Helen will be remembered when 40 hours is the standard for a work contract and when the living wage is the minimum wage for all.’’

She would also be remembered when the issue of medicinal cannabis gained momentum and when ‘‘Pike families get to bury their dead’’, Mallard said, referring to the 29 men who remain buried under the Pike River mine following the tragedy in 2010.

‘‘We’re devastated that you died so young but, in the end, your legacy is in our hands. It is for us to go on and organise.’’

CTU president Richard Wagstaff said has paid tribute to Kelly as someone who always pushed for better.

‘‘Having Helen in my corner made me braver. I knew she had my back and I had hers.’’

Kelly is survived by her son, Dylan, and long-term partner, Steve Hurring.

Prime Minister John Key has sent his condolences from India. willingness by members of the public to record what happened and notify the authorities. There has been a definite shift in public participation – public interest in animal welfare is high.’’

Judge Callaghan noted the ‘‘chilling’’ attack on the puppy took place at a property where Cross was already serving a home detention term for assault with intent to injure.

He told Cross: ‘‘It would be wrong to sentence you to home detention given that this occurred while you were serving home detention for violence.’’

He jailed Cross for 10 months, with six months of post-release conditions including counselling and treatment as directed for anger issues. He is banned from having pets or control over any animals for five years.