Redcliffs is red again.
Decades of dust and dirt have covered the stone cliffs that gave the suburb in Christchurch it's name.
While the February earthquake rippled through the city, it began under the hills of Christchurch. This meant that Redcliffs took much of the initial brunt of the waves.
As a result, houses above the old cliff now balance precariously over the new cliff, and homes at the bottom of the old cliff were buried under the newly displaced rubble that uncovered the new face.
We now have an unfortunate situation there. The houses at the top are obviously uninhabitable, that's a given. But the schoolyard on the flat below, because of the instability of the cliff face, was also too dangerous to let our children back there until something is done to make it safe again.
Decades of dust and dirt have covered the stone cliffs that gave the suburb in Christchurch it's name.
While the February earthquake rippled through the city, it began under the hills of Christchurch. This meant that Redcliffs took much of the initial brunt of the waves.
As a result, houses above the old cliff now balance precariously over the new cliff, and homes at the bottom of the old cliff were buried under the newly displaced rubble that uncovered the new face.
We now have an unfortunate situation there. The houses at the top are obviously uninhabitable, that's a given. But the schoolyard on the flat below, because of the instability of the cliff face, was also too dangerous to let our children back there until something is done to make it safe again.
But what?
Nobody seems to know what to do, so the world of Redcliffs seems to have simply stopped, while the rest of the city moves on and rebuilds.
Here's a thought...
We can never move on while the cliff remains in its current form. Who knows when more will fall?
So why not remove the cliff, and with it the danger?
Draw a line along the footpath in front of the school playground, and then sweeping around to meet the cliff as it comes down to the flat.
Along this line, build a retaining wall at perhaps 3 metres high. This "walled garden" can be used to pack in rubble from the hundreds of demolitions around the city.
When filled, build another retaining wall above the first, but set back 3-6 metres. Fill it with rubble.
Then another retaining wall, set back again.
These teired walls are built to follow the topography of the terrain.
By the time the walls reach the top of the cliff, two things will have happened.
First, we have found somewhere to put a huge amount of rubble from the rebuild.
Second, we have eliminated the risk of rockfall from the cliff, by eliminating the cliff. Suddenly, the houses at the top can be rebuilt, because they are no longer tetering at the top of an unstable cliff. They are perched on the top of a hill, looking down across our new terraced hillside. The terraces can be planted with a range of foliage, and can be built to include walkways if required.
Sure, my terraced hillside pretty much wipes out the school, but we can't use it at the moment, can we?
