TC3 workshop a positive step

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says he is confident progress was made today to overcome and minimise barriers to rebuilding on Technical Category 3 (TC3) land in greater Christchurch.

"Today I hosted around 100 stakeholders in the rebuild, from the insurance, engineering, building, legal and real estate sectors with the goal of finding common ground to resolve issues in TC3," Mr Brownlee says.

Of the approximately 180,000 homes in greater Christchurch 28,000 are in TC3, and of that group around 10,000 are likely to require a rebuild or significant foundation repairs.

"Progress is being made in TC3, with EQC and private insurers' drilling programmes progressing well, and some insurers ramping up repairs and beginning their rebuild programmes, but I believe things can move more quickly," Mr Brownlee says.

Today's session was supported by geotechnical engineers Tonkin & Taylor, officials from Building and Housing, and scientists from GNS.

"I convened today's workshop because I wanted to be sure all parties understood the reasons for developing the technical categories - which was to ensure houses were built in a manner that appropriately reflected the soil structure under them, thereby protecting equity and future property values.

"Appropriate building options are available for all three technical categories across greater Christchurch, and I'm confident a sound basis now exists for insurers to accelerate the rebuilding and repair of homes in TC3."