The design brief emerged after a period of consultation over several months. During our community engagement process, many people shared their hopes for the cathedral. Bishop Michael convened a number of meetings with key stakeholders, including mana whenua, priests and religious.

He also established an advisory group to assist him in his own discernment. That group includes clergy, religious, laity and representatives from mana whenua and cultural communities. A diocesan delegation visited selected cathedral and churches in New Zealand and Australia that were built or significantly renovated in recent years.

The advisory group is made up of people with a range professional and personal skills. It also provides representation from clergy, religious, laity and cultural communities. Several members of the group have particular experience and/or expertise relevant to this project, including liturgical expertise.

During our community engagement process, many people shared their hopes for the cathedral. The design brief gathered input from a variety of sources, whose thoughts were presented to Bishop Michael and his advisors. The design brief is an evolving document; it will continue to be revised during our conversations with architects and with other professionals.

An architect has not yet been chosen. Diocesan leaders have met with architectural firms with the capacity, expertise and values to be considered to design our cathedral. As a result of those meetings, a small number of firms, all based in New Zealand, have been invited to respond to the design brief.

Our plan is to have a design finalised, and some concept drawings available for the public, within the next 12 months.

A decision has not yet been made. The work with architects and other professionals will help us make a decision about the cathedral’s location on the Barbadoes Street site.

Catholics understand that a worthy house of God demands the best of our time and efforts. The people of Christchurch know that a project of this scale will take many years to complete. A Catholic cathedral has not been built in New Zealand in 120 years, so there will be many aspects of this project that are being undertaken for the first time by the project team.

We very much look forward to opening our new cathedral. The project will not be rushed.

The cathedral project will utilise money the Diocese received through insurance, but also from fundraising. We are grateful to the people who have already donated or made pledges to support the project. A formal fundraising campaign will commence in the coming months.

As we said when announcing the decision to build on Barbadoes Street, the Diocese will undertake an ordered selldown of the property we own in the central city. In recent months, we have carried out significant upgrades to that land, including to support parking options in the CBD.