27 Mar 2017

More of Lyttelton’s heritage red rock walls can be refaced thanks to local residents offering up more of the distinctive volcanic rock.

Earlier this year a public appeal was issued for pieces of red rock because contractors working to reface the retaining wall on the corner of Coleridge Tce and Dublin St were running very short of it.

The Great Lyttelton Red Rock Hunt was launched and people were asked to look through their gardens and sections for any spare pieces of rock so work on the wall could be finished.

A stockpile of red rock.

Offers of spare red rock have been pouring in since the launch of the Great Lyttelton Red Rock Hunt.

Christchurch City Council Project Manager Richard Humm said the response from the community had been fantastic, with donations coming from a range of people and institutions including Lyttelton's Anglican church and Lyttelton School.

Enough rock had been gathered to not only finish work on the Coleridge Tce/Dublin St retaining wall but to also reface some of the other retaining walls in Lyttelton.

The walls are a distinctive part of Lyttelton’s streetscape and many of them were built in the mid-19th century by the inmates of Lyttelton Gaol. During the earthquakes many of them collapsed or were so badly damaged that they needed to be deconstructed.

The cost of refacing all the damaged walls is prohibitively high but key walls around the township are being refaced using salvaged rocks.

“We’ve still to collect some of the rock that people have offered us so it is difficult to quantify exactly how much we’ve recovered but it is a significant amount,’’ Mr Humm said.

“Where we were struggling to complete the refacing of high priority walls I believe that now we will be able to complete all the high priority walls and move into the next level of priority walls. This is great news for the heritage listed walls and for the community of Lyttelton.’’

Mr Humm said he was still keen to hear from anyone who had surplus red rock to donate as there was no shortage of walls it could be used on. People with spare rock could email him at richard.humm@ccc.govt.nz.