People at a protest in Christchurch expressed their frustration at outstanding insurance claims eight years on from the September 2010 earthquake. (Video first published September 2018)

It is not only the face of Christchurch that has changed in the eight years since the earthquakes began, it is also the faces of those shaping the city.

During a post-quake era thick with upheaval, intervention and inquiry, there has been a major changing of the guard among decision makers.

Almost all the top 20 individuals on a 2013 power list published by The Press have left their roles. The list was compiled to show who had the most influence in post-quake Christchurch, and was headed by then Prime Minister John Key.

DIANNE MANSON Then Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker: "You get 10 years taken out of you in a couple of years."

It featured Mayor Bob Parker, Christchurch City Council chief executive Tony Marryatt, Earthquake Recovery and Earthquake Commission Minister Gerry Brownlee, Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend, Christchurch City Holdings chairman Bruce Irvine, Ngāi Tahu head Mark Solomon, Environment Canterbury chairwoman Dame Margaret Bazley, The Press editor Joanna Norris, and Christchurch Airport chief executive Jim Boult. All have now gone from those positions.

READ MORE:

* Parker out of Christchurch mayoral race

* Sir Mark Solomon goes from role as Ngai Tahu leader

* Marryatt takes an $800,000 final walk

* Cera boss Roger Sutton resigns over sexual harassment claims

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority chief executive Roger Sutton and Christchurch Central Development Unit director Warwick Isaacs were also on the list and left their jobs early, as did EQC chief executive Ian Simpson and the heads of several big companies, including insurance bosses.

ROSS SETFORD Gerry Brownlee visits a damaged house in Kaiapoi four days after the September 4 earthquake.

One of Christchurch's longest standing city councillors, Jamie Gough, says he saw the early rebuild period "really take its toll" on city leaders and witnessed some people "have a meltdown".

"Some things were done right, and some were done wrong. But everyone was playing their part and trying their best, and they were dealing with a whole lot of pressure," he says.

"I'm not saying they shouldn't be judged, but it's easy to forget they had their own personal struggles with their families, their homes, insurance."

Iain McGregor Warwick Isaacs, left, and Roger Sutton, were respectively head of the CCDU and chief executive of CERA.

Gough believes the leadership changes are good for the city as the new people are bringing fresh ideas.

"The new people aren't necessarily better or worse, it's that change that is positive because we need to be open to new ways of thinking."

"We've been through the rebuild phase and we're entering a new stage of the recovery. It's a different time and it could be make or break – we have to put the rubber on the road in the central city and it's crucial to get it right."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/FAIRFAX NZ Then EQC chief executive Ian Simpson had to rapidly upscale the organisation to meet unprecedented demand.

Peter Townsend, who resigned his Chamber of Commerce position last year but retains a leadership role as a board member of Crown rebuild company Ōtākaro, says a swathe of departures in business leadership was triggered by the rebuild entering a new stage.

"A lot of people, including myself, stayed in their jobs longer than we would've if it hadn't been for the earthquakes. We had big jobs to do in the early stages of the rebuild and we stayed to get the job done."

Many of the city's leaders, including business leaders, thrived on the challenges and opportunities of the rebuild, he believes.

Like Gough, Townsend considers the leadership change to be positive.

"I'm really encouraged by the new leadership that is popping up – there's a refreshing of leadership in the city and I think that's a good thing.

"The city is in good hands from a commercial perspective, and I believe that in five years Christchurch city will be regarded nationally and internationally as a city people choose to live in."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF Peter Townsend, previously chief executive of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, believes many leaders saw opportunities in the rebuild.

A community leader who watched how many others coped is Leanne Curtis, who co-founded the Canterbury Communities' Earthquake Recovery Network (CanCern) and still works giving insurance advice. Curtis says the change of city and business leadership was inevitable.

"Most people working in recovery hit the fatigue wall after about two years. You almost need a refresh button."

Day-to-day recovery roles required different skills than longer-term visionary work, so a change after a natural disaster is beneficial, Curtis says.

"There's a different type of thinking needed as thing progress, so you need different people."

She noted some leaders had moved into other roles in the city's recovery but with a new focus.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF EQC and Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods, left, and Mayor Lianne Dalziel are among the leaders now shaping the city.

Bob Parker, now Sir Bob, was helped back into the 2010 mayoralty by the earthquakes but opted out of re-election under pressure three years later. Now he remembers the grinding hard work, community spirit and professionalism he witnessed around the city after the quakes.

"Nobody was sleeping much because of the aftershocks ... it was all heads down and working and that's how we got through those few months as a city, that dreadful period. Work was good medicine for most of us."

As the city moved from rescue to recovery and planning, the mood changed, he says.

"Things like the Share an Idea campaign created a feeling of optimism and excitement. Everybody in the city dug deep. Then as time went by we started to head into wanting the world to be back as it was, although it couldn't be the same.

Ōtākaro chief executive John Bridgman is one the new breed of leaders in Christchurch.

"It was difficult, there was the sort of pressure that everybody felt, just dealing with angry people. We were all frustrated and under pressure. There was definitely anger."

For the council, the altered power dynamics in the city provided extra challenges, Parker says.

While they understood the need for the Crown investment and oversight, the shift to central Government control felt "incredibly disempowering".

"Until that point we represented our community, and then we had a new bureaucracy suddenly sitting alongside us. That was a disorienting process for everybody in council. It was frustrating and difficult at times."

CARYS MONTEATH/FAIRFAX NZ Dame Margaret Bazley arriving to a media scrum on her first day as ECan commissioner.

Soon after the quakes, former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos shared with Christchurch councillors his own city's earthquake experience, Parker says.

"He told us that in three years there would be a huge turnover in elected representatives, and most key staff would be gone. We didn't understand then, but he was right.

"You get 10 years taken out of you in a couple of years. People come in and they get burned out, they face huge demands and they move on. Post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues are very real.

"Part of you is always going to wrestle with what happened."