Hamish Clark: Welcome return to Christchurch CBD for first time in 11 yearsPosted by MMP News AuthorOn September 21, 2022

OPINION

For the first time since the Christchurch earthquakes, I have returned to a new office in the centre of the city.

It has been a monumental week for me. Excited like a school kid on the first day at a new school. Anxious after 11 years out of the CBD. Nervous not really knowing where to go or what to do now that I am back in the city.

For the past 11 years, I have been working on the outskirts of Christchurch as the city was rebuilt.

First in the corporate boxes at Addington Raceway – a sanctuary from the quakes and temporary location while looking for a new permanent location after being kicked out of the central city.

Then to an office in Lincoln Rd near the netball courts, new, modern, and surrounded by law and accounting firms.

And then next to the railway yards in Middleton, where you could feel the shudder of the locomotives and hear the seagulls on the corrugated iron roof.

On Monday we moved into the new NZME building, home to the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB, One Roof, and The Hits radio stations in the old MED building opposite the Margaret Mahy Playground.

I was so excited by the move I brought my family in to show them over the weekend. They played basketball at the hoop out the back and scootered along the track by Manchester St, all wanting to come here after school to the…