Aerial photo comparisons of before & after – the CBD

Many of the CBD demolitions were mandated under the CERA emergency powers. This meant that those demolitions were carried out quickly so it was important to capture the changes for the research archive before too many buildings were demolished.  Ross regularly walked the CBD to photograph the changes from April 27 2011.  Our first aerial shoot was arranged in October 2011 after several months of feverish demolition activity.

It was particularly important to include Cathedral Square in this comparison as it was, and hopefully will again be, the centre of the city from which most activity radiates.

The top image was taken from that first aerial shoot so there are already “holes” showing up where buildings had been demolished in the 8 months since the most damaging earthquake in February 2011.

However the lower image taken in October 2014 shows a very different story. Almost all the CBD demolitions are complete leaving over 80% of the land vacant.

There are plenty of signs of rebuild activity starting. When the next photo shoot occurs in six months time there’ll be an abundance of changes to see.