Cricket: NZC chief facing major rebuild

Justin Vaughan. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The home of New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan is in danger of ruin and he's desperately patching together a temporary workplace on the Lincoln University campus for his 25-30 staff.

Yet, despite the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquake, Vaughan's demeanour is upbeat and determined.

As NZC boss, the former New Zealand international has plans to attend the World Cup in a fortnight but has abbreviated his stay at the tournament. He knows there is plenty more work to do at home.

"Our house [at Mt Pleasant, near Sumner] is marginal for survival," he says. "It's had a lot of the exterior brickwork fall off.

"My wife and I spent four days tidying it up. We've made the two ends of the house weatherproof with tarpaulins but there are cracks throughout. There is still limited water and toileting. Generally, it's just harder to live day-to-day."

Vaughan's wife Michelle is a cancer specialist. She remains working at Christchurch hospital while their three children - Natalie, Jemima and Bruno - continue to go to school in Wellington. They're staying with grandparents in Eastbourne.

"It's not easy to be separated," Vaughan says. "But that is small beer after what happened. It allows Michelle to work hard at the hospital and me to get NZC sorted.

"A number of my staff were still pretty shaky at the start of this week and I've basically been trying to distract myself with work. I spent two to three days out at Lincoln trying to get our temporary office to function."

NZC will be based out at their high-performance centre for an estimated six months. Their offices on Hereford St in the central business district are in the shadow of the leaning Hotel Grand Chancellor so are likely to be destroyed. Cellphones and laptops remain on desks and staff cars remain parked underground.

"The Christchurch CBD is ruined and people will want to work in ground-floor office space in future after the horrors of being stuck in high-rise buildings," Vaughan said.

"I'm estimating it'll take at least five years to resolve. But the last 12 days or so have taught me not to make decisions faster than you have to.

"Our Lincoln base is 20 minutes out of the city and, for some staff, it will be more convenient. It's on the ground floor and has wide-open spaces nearby which offer peace of mind."

Vaughan is visiting his children in Wellington this weekend. He says power outages initially provided a blessing in disguise.

"It meant they have not been exposed to as much of the graphic tragedy on TV. Images in newspapers have told the story but without the wailing and general heartbreak. My kids hadn't seen much of that until they went up to Wellington."