LET’S GO TO THE YMCA

Go to the YMCA

Work started this month on construction of stage two of the YMCA Christchurch’s redevelopment.

Stage Two is a new building housing a licensed preschool, a 200-seat black-box community theatre, health and wellbeing spaces, education facilities for young people, dance and movement studios, o ce space for other youth organisations, and a range of support tenants including hospitality, general media practice and physiotherapy.

Stage one of the development was the seismic strengthening and refurbishment of the existing YMCA accommodation building, which re-opened last August, rebranded as Hotel Give.

The hotel has since been awarded a Gold Star Qualmark listing.

The central city project was allocated $43 million of shovel-ready funding, with stage one slightly over budget at $9 million due to supply and cost issues. Stage two is expected to cost around $34 million and to be completed by August next year (2023) after which the existing building will be demolished and turned into a carpark by January 2024.

YMCA CEO Josie Ogden Schroeder says the spirit of the new building is about access. “It is about inclusion and wellbeing.

“We have spaces within the building for groups to gather – with a key target customer being specifi cally the youth sector and social service sector in Christchurch. These groups need venues in the central city that are a ordable, and that understand their needs, their budgets, and their goals.”

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LIANNE DALZIEL CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL | MAYOR

Enriching our lives

This year’s anniversary of the terrorist attack of 15 March 2019 leads us to the words Love, Peace & Unity – Aroha, Rangimārie and Kotahitanga.

Rather than hold a remembrance service, the local Muslim community wanted to focus on these themes through Islam Awareness Week leading up to, and Unity Week leading from, 15 March.

They are values that enrich and bring meaning to our lives.

When Christchurch City Council placed a message on Facebook to explain this, one of the replies we received said:

“I’m happy that the bereaved families have made their voices heard and been listened to. I don’t yet have the words apart from saying I am here and I stand with you.”

They are powerful words. “I am here”, says I am present, I empathise with you, I recognise your humanity and I love you as a brother or a sister.

And “I stand with you”, says I support you, I will walk alongside you and I will defend you; I have got your back.

Remembering that time for peace, love, and unity, helps us all to remember what is important in life, even when we are confronted with the very worst of man’s inhumanity to man.

I am here and I stand with you. We are here and we stand together – Ko Tātou Tātou - we are one.

ROSS STEELE TE PAE CHRISTCHURCH | GENERAL MANAGER

Onwards and upwards

Opening a convention centre, a place designed to bring people together, during the middle of a pandemic probably sounds like a bad idea. While during the pandemic, at times it has felt an uphill climb, here we are, having opened Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre and we have found the opposite to be true.

It certainly has not been without its challenges, but we have been humbled by the support of our community and the business events industry at a time when they themselves are facing restrictions and uncertainty.

Built as a cornerstone regeneration project following the seismic events of 2010 and 2011, our opening now serves another purpose, to regenerate our city and our industry following Covid-19.

It has been well reported that Te Pae Christchurch will generate around $60 million in economic benefi t per year to Christchurch’s economy, but there are also numerous social and legacy benefi ts that come from being able to exchange knowledge and ideas in person.

Although a number of upcoming events have been a ected by the change in setting, in most instances our clients have opted to postpone their events to later dates and keep their events in Christchurch. There also remains a solid forward programme leading into 2023 and beyond.

An unintended casualty been our Public Open Day, postponed until gathering limits increase. Our team looks forward to the day we can properly welcome our community through the doors and into New Zealand’s newest gathering place.

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ALISON ADAMS CHRISTCHURCHNZ | CEO

Inspiring progress

Kia ora Ōtautahi! This is my debut column for Metropol as the new chief executive for ChristchurchNZ, the city’s economic development agency.

One of the fi rst o cial duties I had the privilege of performing was welcoming all eight of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 teams just before they played their warm-up games here.

Some of those teams return to Christchurch next week for pool matches and then we have the honour of hosting a semi-fi nal followed by the fi nal on 3 April.

We are blessed with a jewel of a venue with world-class facilities here in Hagley Oval, and this will be seen by a global broadcast audience that is seven times larger than the men’s Rugby World Cup.

To host the fi nal is a huge coup for the city and for ChristchurchNZ, which is the host city agency.

We bid to host global events such as WCWC 2022 because they are a great way to plant the seed of awareness about New Zealand’s most modern and most exciting city.

Some of those viewers will be inspired to visit, to attend a conference, or to study here.

In the global race to attract visitors, workers, and investment to cities around the world, Christchurch’s fi rst step may be a young woman’s bold advance down the wicket to hoist a six over Hadlee Pavilion.

PETER TOWNSEND TE PAPA HAUORA ADVISORY COUNCIL | INDEPENDENT CHAIR

Manufacturing new talent

It’s no coincidence that the Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre (Metro Sports Facility) and Te Papa Hauora (Health Precinct) are co-located and positioned close to the hospital.

The Blueprint developed after the 2010/2011 Earthquakes saw merit in having a health precinct and a wellness/sports facility next to each other and the hospital, to ensure that the relationships between illness, health and wellness could be worked on in the best interests of our wider community. It is exciting to see that vision coming to fruition. Te Papa Hauora and its stakeholders are now actively engaging with the key participants in Parakiore to ensure that when the sports facility is completed in 2023, benefi ts can immediately begin to be realised. Many in Christchurch still have little comprehension of the incredible o erings that will be on site at Parakiore. The largest indoor sports facility in New Zealand, it will deliver a wide range of sporting activities operating alongside the unique o erings of Te Papa Hauora, with signifi cant health and wellness benefi ts to our community. Encouraging all to stay active, providing unique and rewarding sporting experiences, working right across the wider sports spectrum, researching the impact of sporting activity, rehabilitation after injury or illness, as well as just having a good time, are all on the table. The intent is to have numerous o erings available to all our community, not just for our sporting elite, although they, along with all the rest of us, will also be much better catered for than anywhere else in New Zealand.