# The made ground

Christchurch sits on a swamp it kept filling, 8,885 parcels the property files describe as made or characterised ground, about 3,268 hectares: engineered fill, sawdust, mixed fill with rubbish, and the natural silt and peat the files kept a note of.

## By what was laid

- **Unrecorded material**, 4,972 parcels · 1325.1 ha (natural · 1481 certified)
- **Silt**, 1,066 parcels · 426.8 ha (certified · 920 certified)
- **Engineered Fill**, 813 parcels · 375.4 ha (certified · 809 certified)
- **Sand**, 629 parcels · 287.7 ha (certified · 482 certified)
- **Topsoil**, 281 parcels · 129.3 ha (certified · 112 certified)
- **Mixed Fill with Rubbish**, 212 parcels · 273.3 ha (unvouched · 1 certified)
- **Gravel**, 198 parcels · 114.1 ha (certified · 105 certified)
- **Peat**, 172 parcels · 87.0 ha (certified · 82 certified)
- **Compacted Hardfill**, 121 parcels · 58.8 ha (certified · 85 certified)
- **Loess**, 86 parcels · 13.3 ha (certified · 65 certified)
- **Pitrun**, 70 parcels · 23.1 ha (certified · 58 certified)
- **Buried Topsoil**, 61 parcels · 19.2 ha (natural · 28 certified)
- **Mixed Fill with Demolition Material**, 53 parcels · 43.3 ha (unvouched · 3 certified)
- **Mixed Fill**, 45 parcels · 37.5 ha (unvouched · 24 certified)
- **Organic Material**, 40 parcels · 20.9 ha (unvouched · 9 certified)
- **Clay**, 25 parcels · 7.9 ha (certified · 8 certified)
- **Sawdust**, 17 parcels · 15.8 ha (unvouched)
- **Uncompacted Hardfill**, 17 parcels · 1.0 ha (unvouched)
- **Fibrous Plasterboard**, 3 parcels · 7.3 ha (unvouched)
- **Ash**, 3 parcels · 1.2 ha (unvouched)
- **Charcoal**, 1 parcel · 0.0 ha (unvouched)

## The made ground, by suburb

- Halswell: 734 parcels · 241 ha · 4 unvouched
- Wigram: 469 parcels · 201 ha · 35 unvouched
- Burwood: 438 parcels · 150 ha · 7 unvouched
- Marshland: 309 parcels · 164 ha · 4 unvouched
- Woolston: 252 parcels · 103 ha · 28 unvouched
- Parklands: 244 parcels · 113 ha · 2 unvouched
- Casebrook: 218 parcels · 78 ha · 3 unvouched
- Redwood: 213 parcels · 48 ha · 2 unvouched
- Belfast: 198 parcels · 116 ha · 5 unvouched
- Westmorland: 188 parcels · 56 ha · 1 unvouched
- Shirley: 184 parcels · 47 ha · 1 unvouched
- Cashmere: 163 parcels · 60 ha · 5 unvouched
- Saint Albans: 155 parcels · 10 ha · 10 unvouched
- New Brighton: 154 parcels · 30 ha · 4 unvouched
- Mount Pleasant: 152 parcels · 23 ha · 4 unvouched

_Each fill parcel files under the suburb its exterior’s middle sits in, the count of parcels, their hectares, how many carry unvouched fill, and the top materials. A record is the file’s word on what was laid, not a fresh survey._

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Christchurch City Council open data, the Fill layer of OpenData/LandCharacteristic, kept from the property and hazard files. A record is the file’s own description of what was laid, not a fresh survey. A point’s own record: https://www.chch.live/before. The files: https://www.chch.live/fill.json · https://www.chch.live/fill.geojson · by suburb: https://www.chch.live/suburb-fill.json