Canterbury Earthquake - News from Members

News

1 Jan

Written By RMLA

This page will be updated as and when we receive notifications from members. Received to date:

24.02.11

I was there (and am obviously safe) - I was in the Opus offices at the time and there wes no immediate indication of loss. I understand the Beca people are also ok. Regards. Carron Blom, Managing Director,
Anguillid Consulting Engineers and Scientists Ltd

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MACTODDS office in CHCH is fine but we cannot get access as within cordon. Our Lyttelton office is trashed and Ray Blake has relocated to our Wanaka office to work - Graeme Todd

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Thanks for your email. This is what I have been able to find out about those I have been working with recently in Christchurch. I have heard that the staff and families of Abley Transportation Engineers and Planit Associates are okay. Abley's office is badly damaged. Planit's building is not too good and they lost a couple of cars including Dean Chrystal's as the buildings either side of them came down. Pru Steven Barrister was trapped with colleagues in Clarendon Towers in Oxford Terrace on the 14th floor for 3 hours but all were rescued by the fire and emergency services. She does not expect to be able to return to the building and does not even know if files will be recoverable. Many including Pru lost their vehicles and she is leaving for Wanaka today for a while and expects to set up Chambers in alternative premises eventually. She seems able to pick up emails remotely as does Steve Abley. Dean is contactable by text only. I have heard that the Environment Court premises in Armagh Street were badly damaged but that the Judges and Commissioners were out at a lunch when the earthquake happened. Regards - Julie Goodyer

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Duncan Cotterill is operating, but not from its offices. All our staff are safe. I suggest if anyone has resource management queries they try cellphone contact to the relevant staff member in the first instance and if that is unsuccessful (many areas have no cellphone coverage as you will probably know, although this alters depending on whether generators have been able to be installed for the towers) ring me in the Nelson office on 03 5466223. We also have our offices in Auckland and Wellington (and Sydney) fully operational. Not much else I can usefully say really. We have staff staying with us and many families have left Christchurch as they have no power or water and still have aftershocks. So it is a time of coming to grips with the immediate shock. Camilla C M Owen, Duncan Cotterill

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25.02.11

Hi Karol. Pleased to report that I'm ok too. Was running a hearing when quake struck, rushed back to office - a little heritage building in High St - to find everyone safely outside. Our building looks fixable but building behind has collapsed against our back wall. Unfortunately my office and home laptops are both in office and CBD cordoned off. Regards, David Collins

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Due to events in Christchurch, Environment Court facilities are not usable at present. Environment Court staff will liaise directly with affected parties who may have upcoming court events that may be affected by the current situation. Until further notice all Environment Court Christchurch Registry case related communications should be directed to:

David Goodman
Tel No: 03 962 4170 or 09 916 9809
Fax:09 916 9090
email: David.Goodman@justice.govt.nz

Updates on the availability and operations of the Christchurch office can be found at:

http://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/environment-court/contact-us

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Everyone at ChCh Boffa Miskell safe, office continuing but they are working from home so I imagine email best. I was advised that GHD have closed their GHD offices as totally destroyed-no-one harmed but all now relocated to their other offices around the country. Kate Barry-Piceno, Barrister

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All staff of the Marshall Day Acoustics Christchurch office are safe. The office is within the cordon and will not be accessible for some time. Therefore, they are setting up temporary office in one of their garages until further notice. Regards - Siiri Wilkening, Marshall Day Acoustics Ltd

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ERM staff survived OK but serviced office building (199 Cashel St) damaged and inaccessible within cordon. Our staff will be working from temporary offices outside Christchurch from Monday. I also learned that all URS and PDP Christchurch staff members were OK. Regards, Murray Wallis, PhD, Principal Consultant, ERM New Zealand Ltd

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Taylor Baines' people, working from their various home-based offices around the City and Rangiora are all safe and unharmed. Most are currently pre-occupied with attending to the needs of family, neighbours and friends. James Baines and Nick Taylor are contactable on their cellphones and by email. Regards - James Baines

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All members of Traffic Design Group in Chch and their families are safe and well. If anyone wishes to know more detailed information, they can ring my mobile (or ring the office, which has been diverted to my mobile for the time being). Cheers - Andy Carr, Senior Associate, Traffic Design Group (mob: 021797314)

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All Abley staff are unharmed although our central city office premises has suffered damage. Our business continues to operate. Our communications (email and mobile phones) remain functional, our server is secure and we have capability to work remotely to continue project work. Our office phones will soon be redirected to our mobiles and we are working on securing temporary premises. Ultimately the Abley team will get through this tragic event and continue to operate a business that we are immensely proud. Regards...Steve Abley

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All Golder staff are accounted for and safe. While our building is still standing, it is in the cordon area and we have not been able to have it assessed as yet. Those staff who want to leave Christchurch for now are being relocated to other Golder offices in Dunedin and Auckland. Those staying in Christchurch are setting up to work from home as an interim solution. If you need to get hold of anyone please call our Christchurch office number (03 377 5696) which has been redirected. Jennifer Carvill, Senior Associate, Golder Associates (NZ) Ltd

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All of the Buddle Findlay staff in our ChCh office are safe and well. Our offices in Clarendon Tower are damaged and file retrieval will take some time. Our Auckland and Wellington offices are providing comprehensive support including full secretarial services and IT back up. Our staff are available by cell phone and email and we will be working on systematically contacting clients to provide any assistance that might be needed. Regards, Kerry Smith, Buddle Findlay

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27.02.11

Just to let you know that i am ok and all Ecan staff got out of the building ok although we cannot go back into it bcos it is unsafe. We are working on alternative accommo for 400 staff. Regards. Kim Drummond

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Beca's Christchurch office, located in the city's central business district, is temporarily closed as a result of the earthquake and all landline phone calls are being diverted to our Auckland reception. The Beca Planning and Design staff are all safe and accounted for, however most have suffered devastation to their homes, as well as personal distress. While most of our staff are in contact by phone or email, please direct any urgent or pressing planning related queries to me or they can email Helen Ferner who will coordinate a response with our Christchurch based support team as soon as possible.

For any general resource management or planning queries people can contact myself or one of our other staff members at our other offices (details are on our website). Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch at this time. Bryce Julyan, Director - Planning, Beca

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All of the staff in the Darroch office in Cashel Street got out safely but we will not be able to access our office for some time. We plan to relocate to the QV office in Riccarton once we receive engineering clearance. The best way to contact our staff will be by email or cell phone. Landlines have been diverted to our other offices and messages will be relayed. Regards - Caroline Mason

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Traffic Design Group offices in the central city are well within the cordon and so we expect retrieval of project files will take some time. However we anticipate that we will be operating from temporary accommodation by the end of the week. Andy Carr and John Kelly have both now temporarily relocated to work from the Queenstown office and our Nelson office continues to provide services to the top of the South Island. Andy Carr, Senior Associate, Traffic Design Group

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28.02.11

All staff at Goodman Tavendale Reid are safe. Our offices are within the cordon and we are unable to access the physical premises or our files. We will be operating remotely as soon as our server is rebuilt (hopefully by the end of today - 28/02/11). We have temporary premises arranged from 07/03/11. Any queries should be directed to the mobile phones of our Directors, available from our website www.gtrlaw.co.nz. Any RM queries should be directed to my mobile - 021 221 7712. Thanks and regards, Alanya Limmer.

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All Lane Neave staff are safe. We are organising temporary premises and our server has been re-built. The best way to contact us over the next week is via mobile phone. David Caldwell - 021 2299 663, Amanda Dewar - 021 242 9175. Alternately people can contact the Queenstown office or email david.caldwell@laneneave.co.nz.

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I heard from Andrew Craig the landscape architect that he is also OK - Maree Baker

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Graeme Todd - As from 1 April I will be commence practice on my own account. My temporary email address is gtoddlaw@gmail.com. My cell number remains the same. I will advise of further contact details in due course - Graeme M Todd - LLBNotary Public Mobile: 0274 330 457 Home: 03 4429205

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Di Lucas is ok, her office fixable. Gary Taylor

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Simpson Grierson's Christchurch based staff and their families are all safe. Our Christchurch offices are seriously damaged, and it is unlikely that we will be able to access them for a considerable time. In the interim, all enquiries in the first instance can be made to our Wellington office (04) 499 4599. Our Christchurch phones will also divert to that number. Regards - Matt Conway, Senior Associate, Simpson Grierson

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01.03.11

We have no idea whether the Wildlands office in the CBD survived but the staff are fine, which is fantastic (they weren't in the office; one was out doing field work). Now working from home, and not looking forward to going back to the office, if that is actually even an option. All the best. Willie Shaw, Principal Ecologist, Wildland Consultants Limited

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The ViaStrada team and their immediate families are all safe and well. Given the uncertainty with any return to our Hereford Street office, we've established new offices at 10 Bishop Street, Christchurch and recommenced on 28/2/2011. Our contact details remain the same and we're back on email.
See: http://viastrada.co.nz/news/2011/new-christchurch-offices for more details.

Best wishes to everyone out there and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help- be it baking, shoveling silt, supplying showers and water, or otherwise. Cheers, Jeremy

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We are pleased to report that everyone here at Adderley Head is well and we have been making good progress in getting ourselves up and running again. Our office in the CBD remains cordoned off, however we have set ourselves up to work remotely and will be operational from tomorrow. We are making arrangements for alternative premises. Following the recent Christchurch Earthquake Adderley Head have relocated their offices to:

Physical address:
C/- Level 5,
State Insurance Building,
88 Division Street,
Riccarton,
Christchurch

All other contact details remain the same. We are operational and open for business and can be contacted on our usual phone number (03 353 0231) or mobile numbers available on our website: www.adderleyhead.co.nz

The Adderley Head Team

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Chris Glasson, Landscape Architects - Good Morning all, I trust that those of you in Christchurch remained safe and well during the tremors. All of us are well both at home and at work. While our office building is green stickered, we have relocated our office to near Canterbury University. Our contact details remain much the same and we continue to provide a full range of landscape planning, assessment and design services and look forward to continue our business relationships. Kind regards, Chris Glasson, chris@chrisglasson.co.nz

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NZLS resources available
NZLS has set up a special section on its main website with the aim of providing information and resources to the legal profession and public. This is located at www.lawsociety.org.nz/home/earthquake_assistance. We have also set up a special number, 0800 529 000, which can be used by anyone wanting to use the NZLS services - whether to request assistance, to offer it, or to make an inquiry on any matter arising from the earthquake. Email inquiries may go to quakehelp@lawsociety.org.nz, and text messages to 021 420 622.
The website provides news and information received by the Law Society from a wide range of sources, a directory of assistance offered by the New Zealand legal profession to members of the public and also Christchurch lawyers and their families, and provides documents and other property-related information.

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07.03.11

We are pleased to hear that so many members are safe. Everyone at Wynn Williams & Co is safe and well. We are working in various remote hubs until our alternative premises is ready. Our building is damaged and is inside the cordon. Our server and IT systems are running, so we have access to everything on those systems including our usual email addresses. We can be contacted via our usual telephone number (03 379 7622) and postal address ( P O Box 4341). Partner cellphone numbers, email addresses (under the profile for each solicitor) and other updates can be found at www.wynnwilliams.co.nz. We are keen to hear from others - even just to say Hi! Kind regards, Amanda Douglas, amandadouglas@paradise.net.nz, Phone 021 885585

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08.03.11

Resource Management Group Ltd Directors and staff are all safe and well and although there is a number whose homes are badly impacted, all will be returning to work in the very near future. We have secured alternative premises to operate from and we will forward the details of this to you as soon as they are confirmed, although email addresses are unchanged. In the meantime if you have urgent requests the Directors can be contacted in the first instance either by phone or email. Graham Taylor 027 231 5164 graham@rmgroup.co.nz - Darryl Millar 027 229 5555 darryl@rmgroup.co.nz - - David McMahon 027 233 1917 david@rmgroup.co.nz

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Fiona Aston Consultancy Ltd - Dear Clients and Colleagues - I sincerely hope that you and your families and safe and well after the latest devastating earthquake and aftershocks. It is a very tough time for Christchurch. FACL remains committed to Christchurch and the South Island and to helping create a positive and prosperous future for our cherished city. We are continuing to operate with minimal disruption, and the contact details remain as below. I now have two planners (both at a senior level) able to assist with projects - Harriet Chapman, and Caroline Hutchison from Contract Planning Ltd. So we have plenty of capacity and look forward to continuing to work with you, and to assist you with any new enquiries and projects, including those arising as a result of the earthquake. Take care. Kind regards, Fiona Fiona Aston Consultancy Ltd, Resource Management & Planning, P 03 3828898, M 0275 332213

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08.03.11

Information from the Environment Court

All Court personnel got out of the building safely. Judge Jon Jackson has been working at home to the extent possible, and is sitting, as scheduled, in Blenheim this week. Judge Jane Borthwick will be working from her Christchurch home from this week. Judges, Commissioners and staff have all had varying degrees of damage to their homes. The Court Building suffered not insignificant damage - external rubble and so on has now been cleared. The building has been 'yellow-stickered' but not yet thoroughly assessed. It has no water or power and is, in any event, within the cordoned 'red zone', so is generally inaccessible. When, or even if, it might be usable is unknown. The Ministry has organised admin space at Sockburn. It should be possible to resume administrative services out of Christchurch, but in the meantime phones and mail are being diverted to Wellington and Auckland. The present issue is to retrieve files and records and so on from the building, so that work at remote locations can proceed. In at least the shorter term any hearings which are able to go ahead will need to proceed in whatever venues can be arranged, including possibly in other centres. We will keep you posted with any significant developments.

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Website Links to Canterbury Members

Abley Transportation : http://www.abley.com

Adderley Head : http://www.adderleyhead.co.nz

Anderson Lloyd : http://www.andersonlloyd.co.nz/news/christchurch-earthquake-2222011/

Anthony Harper : http://www.ah.co.nz

Aqualinc Research : http://www.aqualinc.co.nz

Beca Carter : http://www.beca.com

Bellbird Consulting : http://www.bellbird.co.nz

Boffa Miskell : http://www.boffamiskell.co.nz

Buddle Findlay : http://www.buddlefindlay.com

Canterbury District Health Board : http://www.cdhb.govt.nz