Christchurch's rebuild is firing up, with a surge in planned building work.

The value of building consents reached an all-time high in August with over 1.5 billion dollars worth of building work

consented across New Zealand in August.

Twenty-five percent of that came from commercial buildings in Christchurch.

Business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said $671 million dollars worth of non-residential consents were processed across the country.

"Christchurch by itself has got 57 percent of that total so basically $384 million worth of non residential consents in Christchurch."

Kelly said he expects the garden city will retain the top title for a while longer....at least until the rebuild tapers off.

"I know that looking out of my window I can see quite a few cranes and I can see quite a few bits of empty land so there's obviously still a fair bit to go."