Dear Reader

It has been many years now since the organization that was developed to rebuild the infrastructure broken by the sequence of earthquakes experienced in Christchurch, New Zealand between late 2010 and 2014.

My experience started in April 2011 when I was interviewed by the founders of this effort for the role to lead the operational team charged with getting the provision of drinking water, sewerage and waste water, stormwater and drainage and roading networks back into functional operation.

This organization came to be known as SCIRT, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team. SCIRT has been closed now for a number of years having completed the task for which it was established in 2017  and handing back the networks to the respective asset owners.

The SCIRT Learning Legacy was developed by the team as a means of sharing the considerable body of knowledge developed during this period to assist future Disaster Recovery efforts in New Zealand and abroad.

This site continues to be viewed by thousands of people every year and many of those people involved continue to share personal experiences from this period through other similar challenges.

The founders understood the need to create a framework of collaboration between the governing authorities, asset owners, organisations delivering resources to facilitate the rebuild effort, and the communities impacted. They guided the SCIRT team to harness collaboration and competitive tension to deliver value for the people of Christchurch and New Zealand and to drive outcomes in a timely and predictable manner.

This site describes the intentionality that was involved, its breadth and how it progressed over the years to respond to the changing dynamics of the political and social environment.

A highlight for me was engagement of all those involved with our vision of creating resilient infrastructure to give security and confidence to the people of Christchurch. People young and old, experienced and new to the industries engaged came together, setting aside preconceived agendas or organizational drivers to create one team focused relentlessly on getting the job done, and getting it done well.

If you have any queries as you review this work please contact one of the team that continues to monitor this site.

Duncan Gibb, CEO SCIRT 2011-2014.