Modern luxury behind the Gothic facade

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 17

Modern luxury behind the Gothic facade

In Residence

by

Sarah Sands

A revolutionary conversion project scorned by critics at its inception in 1981 has finally gained public acceptance as the second of its three construction stages nears completion. Cranmer Courts, in Cranmer Square, is a town house complex built using the impressive blue stone facade of the old Normal School. When complete, it will have 32 town houses set on 0.3 of a hectare — 24 of the town houses will be built into the Normal School building and eight will be in a separate building running parallel to Peterborough Street. The project was started in 1981 by a Christchurch developer, Mr Chris Ber-

ryman, who saw potential for a development that would appeal to a small but growing sector of the residential property market — the professional couple. With its inner-city location and unique architectural features, Mr Berryman felt that the Normal School was the perfect place. But critics were less sure that the proposal was viable. They said Christchurch had an insufficient number of buyers who would be interested in such property. Late in 1983, they were almost proved right. Work on the project was stopped becaue Berryman Properties, Ltd, was in financial difficulties, owing about $400,000 to 140 creditors.

In an attempt to regain their money, creditors agreed to a scheme which saw Fletcher Development and Construction, Ltd, complete stage one of the project (12 units) for a percentage fee. Since then, the development has not looked back.

After completing stage one for creditors of Berryman Properties, Fletchers bought the rest of the development and in March last year started work on the 12 units in stage two. That stage should be finished by the end of this year.

David Fleming, Fletcher’s South Island marketing and development manager, says the company’s involvement

with the project has been very successful. All of the units in stage one have been sold and three of the first six to be marketed in stage two have been sold. As the units have an average price of $260,000, this is no mean feat.

The remaining six units in stage two will be marketed when complete. Whether the eight units in stage three are built immediately depends on the market, says David Fleming. “We will finish stage two and look at the situation then — if the market indicates that the units will sell then we will start.”

He believes initial criticism of the project was unfounded. “There has been criticism of the style and layout but its easy to criticise when the units are complete. By and large, opinion has been very good.” Improving the existing building to a sufficient standard of earthquake strengthening has been the biggest problem faced by Fletchers. “It is the main reason why the units have taken so long to build. The existing building has been structurally upgraded to meet regulations and this has required a lot of work.

“Now the stone exterior is really only a facade. It has no structural use because we’ve put in concrete floors and walls.” Each town house has been designed to make maximum use of existing features with interior stonework and Kauri beams left exposed wherever possible, he says.

Because of the height of the ceilings in the old Normal School, each apartment — on both upper and lower levels — has a mezzanine floor.

Town houses range in size from 130.8 sq m (1408 sq ft) to 209.3 sq m (2254 sq ft). A very large apartment was commissioned by a local real estate agent and her husband who combined two units to give one of 315.8 sq m (3400 sq ft). Included in the purchase price of each town house is carpet and light fittings of the buyer’s choice and a tiled kitchen with a twin wall oven, four hob cooktop and waste disposal unit.

Stage two townhouses are different to those of stage one in that they have two garages and all second-floor units are serviced . by lifts as well as stairs.

Floor plans of all the town houses vary according to the space available.