FIRST FRAME: Work starts on the cardboard cathedral overlooking Latimer Square.

The first frame of Christchurch's new cardboard cathedral has been put in place.

Crews working on the site overlooking Latimer Square have lifted the first steel side into place as activity ramps up on the site after weeks of little or no work being done on the land.

Cardboard tubes, six metres long and each weighing 120 kilograms, will be used as the main part of the structure.

Its stained-glass triangular window will comprise 49 panels and is designed to echo Christ Church Cathedral's rose window.

The temporary Anglican cathedral, which will seat 700, was designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

The rose window in the west wall of Christ Church Cathedral survived the February 2011 earthquake but collapsed in the June 2011 aftershocks.

The 1.2m-tall triangular glass panels feature images from the rose window.

The 23m-high, six-storey building is expected to open in February, around the time of the second anniversary of the February 2011 earthquake which badly damaged the original Anglican cathedral.