What makes Christchurch great?
Resource Availability
Plentiful, clean, reliable
Christchurch & Canterbury can offer reliable resources for your business, including water, energy and land.
Water
Water is highly valued by Canterbury for its use in economic, environmental, health, cultural and recreational purposes. The region currently has enough water to meet its near needs but the City Council is actively encouraging residents to preserve water to protect this precious resource.
Christchurch drinking water originates from a natural underground aquifer pumping out 50 million cubic metres per year. The water is neither chlorinated nor fluoridated and is tested frequently to ensure it remains high quality. In 2008, 98% percent of Christchurch residents were happy with the taste of the city’s water.
Residential water supply is covered in household rates (average water rates around $85). The cost per cubic metre commercially is 38 cents.
Energy
Most of Christchurch’s electricity is generated by hydro-electric power stations and the supply is reliable. Over the year ended 31 March 2008, the electricity distribution network Orion had 7.3 faults per 100km of circuit, well below the 16.2 average seen by Wellington and Auckland *year ended 31 March 2007)1.
In the Christchurch CBD, on average customers are without power for only two minutes per year, compared with 13, 21 and 36 minutes in CBDs of Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart respectively. For a typical NZ consumer, average electricity prices in Christchurch for Feb 09 ($21.5 c/kWh) were below those in Auckland ($22.9 c/kWh), Wellington ($22.7 c/kWh and Dunedin ($21 c/kWh).
A comparison of international energy prices in the March 2008 quarter show New Zealand has the lowest industrial natural gas price, second lowest industrial diesel price (behind Mexico), and fifth lowest regular petrol price (behind the United States, Mexico, Canada and Australia).2
Property
Lease rates in Christchurch are lower than other main centres in the country. Approximate total operating costs per square metre range from $160 to $270 in Christchurch, $210 to $500 in Wellington and $220 to $600 in Auckland.
Residential house prices in Christchurch are also low - the average house price is $343,000 compared to $487,000 in Auckland and $424,000 in Wellington.3
Footnotes:
1 http://www.oriongroup.co.nz/downloads/NetworkQualityReport2008.pdf
2 http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/StandardSummary____33.aspx
3 REINZ
What else makes Christchurch great?
- Research capabilities - universities, polytech, research facilities
- Transport - access for people and goods in and out x 24/7
- Telecommunications - virtually unlimited bandwidth
- Competitive workforce - skilled, cost-effective, stable
- Lifestyle - diverse, accessible, fun!
Underpinned by much more...