COMMUNITY » Opawa Community Church
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The new church has the original church’s roof, which survived the earthquakes very well but was grounded on a temporary support structure on site for most of last year while the church was rebuilt.
New home for Community Church Kelly Deeks After five years of displacement following the Christchurch earthquakes and the ensuing insurance issues, Opawa Community Church is now settled into its new home with a $3.4 million rebuild recently completed. Opawa Community Church minister Andrew Doubleday says he and his congregation are exceedingly pleased with the result of the rebuild, which has produced a welcoming building that has been designed and built with love and care. Designed by PXA Architects and built by Higgs Construction, the new building is a lightweight building on piles, sitting 1.4 metres above the ground.
Paul Wilkins of PXA Architects had a number of challenges to overcome in the design. “I’m always working to realise my client’s aspirations, but with this project is was quite a challenge to design something that could recycle the church’s existing roof,” he says. “We wanted to make it more than it was originally, without making it so different it didn’t pay homage to what was there before.” Another challenge was raising the church’s floor level by a metre from where it was previously, a requirement of the flood management zone the church is located in. “At 1.4m above ground level, we had to make a building that wouldn’t divorce itself from the site. We’ve added decks around the church to try to minimise that scale.”
Peter Searle of Higgs Construction was the project manager on site, and he says it was a rewarding project to be involved in, with a lot of planning and thinking about how to approach it and bring it to fruition. “There is a lot of satisfaction in seeing a beautiful church resurrected,” he says. The new church has the original church’s roof, which survived the earthquakes very well but was grounded on a temporary support structure on site for most of last year while the church was rebuilt. The original 21.5 ton roof was repaired, insulated, and coated with four layers of intumescent paint before being craned into place in December. “That was the most anxious day for me!” Andrew says. The new church’s lightweight structure was employed in order to minimise the amount of weight imposed on the building. There are no concrete floors due to the flood
management zone, and this also allows for some future proofing since it will be no issue to run services in the future with things literally not set in concrete. Andrew says his new workplace has real architectural integrity and Paul has done a fabulous job of linking the old and the new. “It’s a very welcoming building,” he says. “When I’m sitting inside on my own, members of the public just wander up the ramp and look in the windows. “It’s not a building that pushes people away, it’s a building that draws people in.” He imagines the new church should draw in a few more people in to his flock, having lost a few over the past five years while the Sunday services have been somewhat hidden away at the Opawa School Hall. “We’re anticipating we’re going to lift in numbers, and we’ve now got the facilities to look after them.”
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Redd Sales is proud to be involved with the audio installation for Opawa Methodist church
Terry Molloy, the owner of Redd Sales, has 32 years of sales and hire experience in theatrical and venue installations. Available for consultancy or full design and installation.
TERRY MOLLOY 249B Annex Road, Middelton, Christchurch 8024 PO Box 9281 Tower Junction C: 021 324 580 P: 03 366 3980 E: sales@reddsales.co.nz