Restoring urban life in central Christchurch: Carriage Quarter Apartments

The East Frame residential development covers several blocks of land cleared after the Christchurch earthquakes.

The Crown-owned company Rau Paenga is overseeing the development in collaboration with Fletcher Living and other residential developers. Formerly called Ōtākaro, Rau Paenga designed and delivered Rauora Park, the linear park at the centre of the East Frame, providing a landscaped spine for the housing developments on either side.

Carriage Quarter is particularly significant as it marks the first development along Manchester Street and is the first step to creating an urban edge between the city and the new residential areas.

There are 63 units; a mix of apartments and standard terraced houses around the main street edges, with 14 townhouses in the centre. The townhouses have been designed to frame private courtyards and open onto a shared laneway through the middle of the site. They are a unique typology for the central city and provide a nice residential scale to Rauora Park.

Fletcher Living is both the client and builder and is developing the “super lots” within the Eastern Frame as connected but distinct neighbourhoods – each with a different architect and target markets to ensure diversity.

HMOA was brought into the Carriage Quarter project by structural engineers, Lewis Bradford Consulting Engineers, who recommended us to streamline and rationalise the design. 

Other key team members included Powell Fenwick Consultants, Kamo Marsh landscape architects, Eliot Sinclair for planning and surveying.  Some key product suppliers were Canterbury Clay Bricks and Dimond Roofing.

There were the usual challenges with construction projects of this scale, but material supply was particularly difficult post-COVID.  As this was effectively a design-build project we were able to confirm and order materials early enough to avoid major delays or issues.

However, the trickiest issue was reaching agreement on the basic brief at the start of the project.  There were different expectations, so we worked up innumerable options and had a couple of false starts before honing the current scheme. 

I'm particularly proud of the internal landscaped laneway, and it was a key part in getting final agreement for this scheme from the stakeholders.  It provides a more graduated transition from public to private spaces than traditional terraces, and should encourage natural interaction and sense of community within the super lot.

All units are designed to a 6-Homestar rating, and the apartments are assessed to a 3-star Lifemark rating, ensuring both comfort and long-term sustainability for residents.

We are in the early design stages for another East Frame super lot on a prime site next to the Ōtākaro/Avon River.

This project will have a similar number and mix of units as Carriage Quarter, but in a more cohesive and self-contained block that suits the site’s riverside position.

We have also completed the design for an apartment project in Redcliffs – adapting an existing building – and we are excited to see that get underway.

Photos: Russ Kleyn