Earthquake strengthening work at St. Mary’s Church in Timaru reaches its peak

The scaffolding that has become a common sight around a church in downtown Timaru will soon collapse as the strength of the earthquake in the 136-year-old church has reached its peak.

St Mary’s Church, of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, which covers parishes from North Canterbury to Lake Takapo/Tekapo and the West Coast, has been undergoing earthquake repairs for nearly a decade.

The church became the largest stone church in the parish after Christchurch Cathedral fell in the 2011 earthquake, said sheriff pastor Murray Gibson, and it has been sheathed in scaffolding for nearly two years as reinforcement work took place on the 32-meter-high tower.

Gibson said church members are very pleased with the “amazing” work that was hardly bolstered by reforms in the church “unless you look seriously or know where to look.”

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John Bissett / Stuff

Work continues on the St Mary’s Church tower with concrete pouring on the top floor of the tower last week.

The church was closed for more than three years around 2012 after engineers deemed the church vulnerable to earthquakes after the 2010 earthquake. During that time, the parishioners of St. Mary used the chapel at Craighead Diocesan School.

The first service was held again on June 28, 2015.

The church was then closed for six months due to a strong earthquake in 2017.

The next step for the repairs will be to install the four peaks on the steeple, which Gibson said moved so little in the 2010 earthquake that Timaru County Council said they would have to go down.

The two-metre stone peaks were removed after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake for safety reasons after one of the four stone blocks crashed to the ground causing the other three to be removed for safety reasons.

“The peaks have deteriorated to such an extent that they cannot be brought back,” Gibson said.

The new peaks were made by Christchurch firm J Tait Stonemasonry, and Gibson confirmed that they were completed, but could not confirm when they would be returned to the tower.

Gibson said the reinforcement and other functions were done by Timaru Construction.

“They have been very good to us, and it is great that we were able to work with a local company.”

John Bissett / Stuff

The priest’s commissioner said the tops of St. Mary’s Church should be reinstalled soon.

Gibson said the tower was added to the church in 1909, 23 years after the church was built, and is undergoing a strengthening process with new steel trusses and new concrete floors that will support the four peaks.

Gibson said he was not aware of the cost of the business but said much of it would be through insurance.

“We are excited about the tops that will be erected, and to take down the scaffolding, it has been a long time,” he said.

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