![East Lake 138](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/East_Lake_138.JPG)
East Lake is an open water course under consideration in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, New Zealand. The facility, located within the
residential red zone
The residential red zone refers to areas of land in and around Christchurch, New Zealand, that experienced severe damage in the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and were deemed infeasible to rebuild on. Through voluntary buyouts, the Crown ...
adjacent to the
Avon River, would be suitable for international rowing regattas. The facility is estimated at NZ$160m to construct.
History
Earlier rowing lake proposals
There have been proposals for an international rowing facility for Christchurch since the early 2000s. The first proposal is known under the name Lake Isaac, an artificial lake on land known as McLeans Island next to the
Waimakariri River
The Waimakariri River is one of the largest rivers in Canterbury, on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It flows for in a generally southeastward direction from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. ...
owned by
Diana Isaac. The proposal died when it was opposed by neighbouring
Christchurch International Airport
Christchurch Airport is the main airport that serves Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, in the suburb of Harewood. Christchurch (Harewood) Airport officially opened on 18 May 1940 and became New Zea ...
, with executives fearing that attracting more
water foul to the area would increase the risk of
bird strike
A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle, usually an aircraft. The term ...
for planes landing or starting.
The plans for Lake Isaac were given to the
International Rowing Federation
World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...
(FISA) and from them were passed on to the organisers of the
2012 Summer Olympics, and were the blueprint for
Dorney Lake
Dorney Lake (also known as Eton College Rowing Centre, and as Eton Dorney as a 2012 Summer Olympics venue) is a purpose-built rowing lake in England. It is near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and is around 3 km (2 miles) west of Wi ...
.
Later in the 2000s, a proposal was developed to use the Henderson Basin in
Halswell
Originally a separate village, Halswell is now a residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southwest of Cathedral Square on State Highway 75.
History
Halswell is named after Edmund Halswell QC (1790–1874), a government offi ...
for a rowing course.
Before the plans could be much further, the
2010 and
2011 earthquakes happened.
East Lake proposal
As a result of the earthquakes, large areas of land along the Avon River was deemed as unsuitable for housing, the residential red zone was gazetted starting in June 2011, and the land purchased by
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
for
NZ$
The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New ...
1.5b.
It was reported in 2012 that the idea of using the red zone had found the support of the Earthquake Recovery Minister,
Gerry Brownlee
Gerard Anthony Brownlee (born 4 February 1956) is a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1996, was Leader of the House, Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and Minister of ...
. The minister has two relatives who have represented New Zealand in rowing; his uncle
Mark Brownlee
Mark Brownlee (born 26 November 1942) is a New Zealand rower.
Brownlee was born in 1942 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Like all his brothers, he received his secondary education at St Bede's College. His son is Scott Brownlee, who is also an Ol ...
represented
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at the
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
and
1968 Olympics,
and his cousin
Scott Brownlee
Scott Alexander Brownlee (born 19 March 1969) is a New Zealand rower.
Brownlee was born in 1969 in Christchurch, New Zealand. His father is the rower Mark Brownlee and his cousin is the politician Gerry Brownlee.
He represented New Zealand at ...
represented New Zealand at the
1992,
1996, and
2000 Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
.
In December 2013, Brownlee first publicly supported a water course for rowing, swimming, and triathlon, while at the same time acting as a large
stormwater holding basin that could reduce flooding (the earthquakes had resulted in land to subside). Earlier in the year, Brownlee had consulted with those who were responsible for constructing Lake Dorney.
The government agency responsible for the red zone, the
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), never engaged with the public on what could eventually happen with the land. In this information vacuum, a community group—Eastern Vision—formed itself to work with the community on their aspirations; Eastern Vision was led by
Peter Beck
Peter Joseph Beck is a New Zealand entrepreneur and founder of Rocket Lab, an aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider. Before founding the company, Beck worked in various occupations and built rocket-powered contraptions.
Early lif ...
and Evan Smith. Twenty-seven key projects were considered for east Christchurch, and the proposal for East Lake found wide support. Two lake proposals were considered, with lengths of and in length, and Beck reported that over 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the longer lake. The East Christchurch Water Sports Community Trust formed itself in 2014 to progress the proposal and has since renamed itself East Lake Trust.
It is proposed to also provide other aquatic facilities, like boarding assisted by a cable ("cable boarding"), and an artificial
white water rafting
Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
facility.
When CERA ceased to exist in April 2016, some of its functions were taken over by
Regenerate Christchurch, a joint agency of the Crown and
Christchurch City Council
The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, wh ...
responsible for developing and overseeing regeneration plans. Part of the brief that Regenerate Christchurch was given is to investigate the feasibility of East Lake:
The chairman of Regenerate Christchurch,
Andre Lovatt, hoped that decisions about the red zone along the Avon River could be made "within 12 to 18 months" (i.e. during 2017).
Some groups expressed concern about potential favouritism as East Lake was the only initiative explicitly mentioned in Regenerate Christchurch's brief. East Lake Trust published its pre-feasibility study in August 2017, in which the facility is estimated at NZ$160m to construct, with annual operating costs predicted at NZ$500k.
Regenerate Christchurch has doubts that the East Lake development would be environmentally appropriate, and it was not included in the Ōtākaro/Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan, passed in August 2019.
Regenerate Christchurch itself has now closed down.
Location
East Lake would be located to the north and west of the Avon River in the Christchurch suburbs of
Dallington and
Burwood. Its southern end would be separated from the Avon River by Locksley Avenue, in a location opposite the existing rowing sheds on the stretch of the river that is known as Kerrs Reach. The lake would roughly be aligned in the north-south orientation and its northern end would extend to and incorporate
Horseshoe Lake.
References
External links
East Lake TrustResource document by AvON Otakaro Network
Christchurch East: Aquatic Playground of the City video produced by Eastern Vision
{{Coord, 43, 30, 30, S, 172, 40, 41, E, display=title
Lakes of Canterbury, New Zealand
Rowing venues
Artificial lakes
Geography of Christchurch
2011 Christchurch earthquake