Government acquires CTV building site

10:34 pm on 17 July 2013

The Government has bought the site of the Canterbury Television building in Christchurch.

The CTV building on Madras Street collapsed on 22 February 2011, with the loss of 115 lives.

The site, now cleared of rubble and building material, will form a small part of the 'East Frame', a predominantly residential area with open green space bordering the new condensed core of the central business district.

The Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) has written to families of the victims of the CTV building's collapse to advise them of the purchase.

CCDU director Warwick Isaacs says those involved in the design and planning of the East Frame are acutely aware of the sensitivities that surround the sit and decisions are still to be made about the longer term use of the site.

Mr Isaacs says the Government's negotiation to purchase the PGC site at 233 Cambridge Terrace, where 18 people died and others were seriously injured in a building collapse in the February 2011 earthquake, is well advanced.

Maryanne Jackson, a CTV employee who was in the building when it collapsed, says she would like to see a memorial.