August 16, 201
Child mental health services return to the city
Canterbury District Health Board’s Child and Family Speciality Mental Health Service has re-established in the
inner-city – two and half years after it was displaced following the February 22 earthquake.
Whakatata House was reopened yesterday by Minister of Health Tony Ryall and Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner.
Originally built as a grand inner city home around 1878-79, Whakatata House has had a number of uses including the
hospitality industry and by the University of Canterbury, before it was bought by Canterbury DHB about 30 years ago,
eventually becoming home to the Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Services.
Toni Gutschlag, CDHB General Manager of Mental Health, says the Child and Family Specialty Service occupied the building
up until they were forced to abandon it in the February 22 earthquake.
“I know that the Child and Family Mental Health Team’s return home to Whakatata House has been much anticipated and now
that it is here, an emotional event. A lot has happened in this house,” Toni says.
“This is a significant milestone for the mental health system in Canterbury and is the first of three of our major
building works to be completed.”
Toni says staff have not only had to work out of less than ideal premises over the last two years, they have had to do
this while coping with increased demands on the services that have been driven out of the quakes.
“I’m very proud of what the staff have delivered, they have worked tirelessly to keep services running and managed to
reduce waiting times despite the increase in referrals.”
Toni says the service is thankful to the Canterbury DHB for investing in Whakatata House and restoring it to its former
beauty.
“The reopening of Whakatata House is more than a mental health celebration; it is also a significant milestone for
lovers of beautiful buildings and the inner city. Thirty people will be based here; their return to the city is another
small step in the revitalisation of our inner city.
“Thank you to all the people that have played a part in the restoration process, from the people who made the decision
to restore, to the architects, planners, managers, builders and tradespeople who have brought Whakatata House back to
life.
“A special thank you to Joe McCarthy, Project Manager and Craig Scott, Clinical Manager.
“To the child and family service - welcome back.”
Wayne Lawson, CDHB Site Redevelopment Manager, says the engineers’ structural assessment of the building was
unfavourable after the quakes and it was deemed earthquake prone.
“As a consequence of the quakes the building experienced a differential settlement of up to 88mm, there was extensive
cracking of the internal walls, ceilings and perimeter foundation beams,” Wayne says.
“We had to jack the building up to re-level it – we have had to replace sections of the bottom plate, the lowest timber
bearer, which sits directly on top of the foundations – without the building collapsing.
“We have taken the opportunity to re-insulate the building and upgrade the electrical systems; we have replaced
extensive portions of wall and ceiling linings and generally given the whole place a spruce-up.”
The repairs and refurbishment have cost around $1.5 million.
ends