WHERE TO START? CHRISTCHURCH'S POST-QUAKE LAND DRAINAGE RECOVERY PROGRAMME

Where to start? Following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake how do you develop a programme of works to reinstate the pre-quake land drainage network of the city of Christchurch?

The Canterbury earthquakes increased flood risk in some parts of the city by changing the topography and damaging land drainage infrastructure. The scale of the increased flood risk is immense. Thousands of properties have been identified as potentially having increased flooding vulnerability due to the earthquakes, with many of those at increased risk of floor level flooding. In addition to the physical damage, the health and social impacts on communities have been severe. Reducing the post-earthquake flood risk is a necessary part of restoring restore community resiliency and wellbeing following the earthquakes.

The Land Drainage Recovery Programme (LDRP) was established, by Christchurch City Council in 2012, to understand the consequences of the earthquakes on the land drainage network within the city limits. In order to develop and prioritise the programme key questions needed to be answered: Where was the damage located? What areas were most at risk of increased flooding? What is the quickest way to analyse options? How is it possible to estimate the cost of unknown works? How to prioritise unknown works with unknown effects? As well as the technical considerations, the LDRP needs to manage expectations of families directly affected, wider residents' expectations, political drivers, fiscal restraints and the urgency of a remedy for the city in an uncertain long term planning environment.

This paper explores the LDRP from the programme management perspective of identifying information needs, developing stormwater quake damage projects, the process of prioritising and re-prioritising, creating a programme team who are set up for success, and delivering a programme worth hundreds of millions of dollars within a politically driven environment.