A new Catholic cathedral is going to be built in the centre of Christchurch city.
It follows an earlier decision to not rebuild the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street, which was damaged in the 2011 and 2012 earthquakes.
The new cathedral is part of a larger development, North of the Square.
As well as the cathedral there will be a new primary school built, a community hub, offices for the Catholic Diocese and residential accommodation and a multi-storey car park.
All up the development is estimated to cost $500 million dollars, with the cathedral costing $85 million alone.
The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Paul Martin, says that when it became impractical to rebuild the old cathedral on the previous site, the thought of a new cathedral in the centre of the city became most appealing.
“It is my desire for the cathedral to be in the heart of the city, where our Catholic community can visit on a daily basis to pray and reflect and for the church to be able to play a part in re-energising the life of the city,” said Bishop Martin.
“The new cathedral will be a cornerstone of the recently announced new five-parish structure for the city and will see the amalgamation of the existing Mairehau and St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral parishes into this central city site.”
The cathedral is expected to be able to accommodate up to 1000 people and could be completed by 2025.
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