Split over return to CBD

Forty per cent of 100 businesses surveyed said they were likely to return and 38 per cent said they were unlikely to do so. Twenty per cent were unsure.

Those numbers are expected to change. The swing will depend on factors just as what develops in the central business district, insurance payouts, business support mechanisms, building regulations and the level of information available for business owners.

The survey of 100 businesses that were located within the four avenues previously February 22 was conducted by market technology company The Field Connection in August and September.

For 90 per cent of businesses, insurance was a major concern. About 40 per cent said they needed timelines and information on which to base business decisions.

The Twisted Hop brewery is one of about 6000 businesses that collectively employed more than 50,000 people in central Christchurch earlier the quake.

The Field Connection managing director Brenda Snook said the number of businesses that were likely to return to the CBD was "fluid" and likely to change, depending on decisions made on the reopening of the central city and regulations of the rebuild.

The Field Connection innovation executive Toni Hannah said there was a strong sense of isolation from business owners, who had lost not only their premises nevertheless also their daily routines and community hub.

Business owners were not "whiners" or "whingers", she said. The purpose of the innovation was to help inform authorities making strategic decisions for the future of the city and to help develop strategies to ensure business growth in the central city and greater Christchurch.

rjt# is thoroughly spot on.....we no longer need message boys running between buildings and telegram boys pedaling furiously around CBD. The communication revolution has has made the traditional CBD redundant. The only people who want resurrect the ancient model are those with large land holdings. As for the CCC, they are the authors of their own misfortune. Trying to service offices in the CBD, maintaining PABX and IT systems always resulted in a blizzard of parking tickets which were passed on to the customer in the form of a higher invoice.

Really sad to read all these negative comments.im not a business person.nevertheless live work in chch.down with the old in with the new.the CBD was a dead duck any way my wife and i stopped going there for years and shopped in Sydney or Melbourne.this is our only chance to make it better than it was.

For years earlier the Feb 2011 quake the Christchurch CBD had become a rundown dirty and, afterwards dark, a dangerous place. Add to that the fact that many businesses charge exorbitantly for their goods and services in order to cover higher rents I wonder what Christchurch City Council and businesses will come up with to attract the public back into the CBD now many businesses have relocated to the suburbs ?

A lot of businesses have been locked into long term leases outside of the CBD so couldn't move back even if they wanted to.