Basilica quake repairs a big job | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

THE FIRST steps are being taken this week on the long path to reopening the Catholic cathedral, which was battered by both the September 4 and Boxing Day quakes.

The 106-year-old cathedral in Barbadoes St has been closed since September 4. The north tower was damaged then, and the south tower by the Boxing Day aftershock.

Work on shoring up both of them and some other work started this week and will take four to six weeks to complete.

A contract had been let to Lund Construction for shoring up both towers and doing other work, said diocesan financial administrator Paddy Beban.

"It will enable our property managers to go into the interior and carry out a detailed assessment of the damage there," he said.

"Some protection measures are required for that."

Some external assessment work for both heritage and structural purposes was done after the September earthquake, but additional damage to the south tower and other parts of the cathedral on Boxing Day meant the whole exterior needed to be looked at again.

When the shoring was done and an interior inspection carried out, the church would be in a better position to have a timeframe for repairing it, said Mr Beban.

However, the cathedral was definitely "fixable," he said.

Sunday masses are being held in the meantime at Cathedral College next door.

Since the Boxing Day damage, the container and fencing barriers in the street outside the cathedral have been substantially extended by the city council.