Quake-damaged printing press reopens

Christchurch's well-known Caxton Printing Press was officially reopened today.

The family-run printers was located on Victoria Street in the central city for nearly 80 years before the February 2011 earthquake caused significant damage to the building.

The printing press was opened in 1935 by poet Denis Glover, who together with a partner borrowed £100 for equipment to start with.

Their aim was to publish New Zealand literature, which it did publishing works from Allen Curnow and Les Cleveland, to name a few.

Caxton managing director Bruce Bascand, who bought the business 37 years ago, said following the earthquake he never thought he would be opening a purpose built factory.

"We were locked out of our business for 10 weeks, because it was in the central city red-zone."

He said the way Civil Defence managed the red-zone was shocking following the earthquake.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the managing director of Ballantynes and Mace Engineering queuing up at a portocom where parking attendants were in charge of the city."

Mr Bascand said the government's $500 a week subsidy for employees directly after the earthquake saved his company.

When the business was able to go back into the city they operated out the back of their historic building, which had suffered significant damage.

"We were squeezed in pretty tight, surrounded by damage, our largest machine which weights 36 tone had moved one meter."

Mr Bascand said it was not an option to stay in the city as it was not an efficient place for a factory.

The new $4.8 million custom-built printing factory based in the suburb of Wigram was three times the size as their old site and it would increase production by 50 percent.

It took four weeks and more than 200 man hours to shift all the printing presses to the new building, with stained glass windows and the front door from the historic site being re-used in the new building.

Earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee officially opened the new factory with an unveiling of a plaque.