Christchurch earthquake: Couple offer a place to work

David Ellis (pictured) and his wife Jane are opening their firm's building to other businesses displaced by the earthquake. Photo / Supplied

A husband-and-wife team have offered stranded companies a temporary home in their Addington office to help them get back on their feet until new premises can be built.

David and Jane Ellis, owners of outdoor clothing label Earth Sea Sky (ESS), wanted to help businesses by providing a temporary space to work from in their building, which was not damaged by the earthquake.

Jane Ellis said her office had suffered no structural damage and electricity and water had not been affected even though the building fronted on to the south end of Hagley Park.

ESS designs parkas for Antarctic New Zealand. The parkas are now being made on the Addington premises by Sole Survival, which moved in with the Ellises last week after its building was destroyed.

Sole Survival is a manufacturing company that ESS outsources its designs to and Jane Ellis saysit is crucial to the operation and financial survival of ESS.

The six-strong team has moved into the ESS building and the company is also in talks about moving an IT company in.

ESS outsources its production to five factories around the South Island - three are in Christchurch, one in Nelson and the other in Dunedin.

Jane Ellis said the business was passionate about being a New Zealand owned and operated company and would remain centrally based in Christchurch - 65 per cent of ESS's production is in Canterbury.

A lot of tourists bought the company's clothes, which ranged from mountain to travel wear, she said.

David Ellis said the business had spent a lot of time ensuring the other two factories were secure and moving all the sewing machines into the Addington office.

"It's amazing the spirit of people," he said.

"There are some [businesses] in a very bad way. One factory had sewing machines turned upside down. A quarter of the machines were lying on the ground."

Some business were considering setting up a "nerve centre" where employees would come to tap into resources but predominantly work from home or off-site, he said.

"We have always been slightly out of the town centre and will secure as many as we can deal with to save jobs. "The economy is so important for Christchurch, we want to assist as much as possible."