Living Springs is a camp, conference and activity centre at 218 Bamfords Road, Allandale, above Governors Bay on Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour — a 20 to 25 minute drive from central Christchurch. It is an independent charitable trust, built in the 1970s by founding families Peter and Anne Morrow, David and Eddie Down, and Roger and Val Roxburgh, and it has hosted school, community, church, youth and corporate groups for more than four decades.
The property runs to over 400 hectares of native bush and rural farmland, spanning from the crater rim down to the harbour foreshore. The main camp sits on the hillside with harbour views.
### Corporate and team-building capability
Living Springs positions itself as a turnkey venue for team-building events, providing activities, meeting spaces, catering and accommodation in a single booking. Facilities include multiple meeting rooms, an auditorium, an indoor heated swimming pool, cabins, bunk-style and other accommodation, and camping areas. Catering is fully serviced with self-catering options also available, and an executive chef handles everything from banquets to casual barbecues and informal lunches. Bellbird Heights is used as a training and retreat space and is named repeatedly in client testimonials.
Team-building activities are run on site by trained staff. Archery Tag is the most popular and is suitable for all fitness levels; other options include an initiatives course, rogaine, the Adventure Stream, bush walks, facilitated workshops and social touch rugby on the Founders Playing Field. Mountain bike tracks on the property are open, and there are several bush and hill walks. A country golf course at Charteris Bay is about ten minutes away and Lyttelton township about fifteen.
The centre publishes a downloadable facilities, accommodation and catering document rather than a public capacity chart, so exact room capacities should be confirmed directly. Testimonials name Fulton Hogan (a senior managers' strategic conference for a team of 45) and New Zealand Red Cross (a multi-day national training event), which gives a fair sense of the scale it handles comfortably. Living Springs displays OutdoorsMark accreditation.
### Environment and social purpose
Living Springs runs a substantial conservation programme: the Allandale Stream restoration project begun in 2011, the Plant a Hundred Tōtara initiative and Predator Free Allandale. More than 55,000 native seedlings have been planted and a large pest-control programme is under way. In 2021 the trust partnered with Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and Conservation Volunteers NZ to launch He Rau Ringa e oti Ai, a Department of Conservation-funded ecological and cultural restoration programme across Whakaraupō. Corporate responsibility packages let visiting companies contribute through planting, or by supporting the Aorangi sponsorship programme, which funds camp places for children from vulnerable communities in greater Christchurch.
Living Springs suits a Christchurch conference day-out, a residential team retreat, or a values-led programme where the conservation component matters as much as the meeting room. Its charitable-trust status and restoration work make it a straightforward fit for organisations with sustainability or community-impact reporting obligations.
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