Napier Civic Building demo job now a July target

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The Napier City Council’s Civic Building, not quite 55 years old, vacant since December 2017, and, finally, headed for demolition this year. Photo / NZME

The Napier City Council’s Civic Building, closed for over four years as an earthquake risk, will be gone forever by the end of the year.

Thanks to a new focus on earthquake risk it was retired suddenly in December 2017, and the first active footsteps on the site in a new era came on Thursday when demolitions experts from as far as Auckland and visited with council staff on Thursday, ahead of the of tenders in a fortnight’s time – on May 13.

Companies are asked to price the demolition, removal and site leveling of the Hastings St building, including recycling and treatment of materials in accordance with New Zealand Green Building Council Standards.

Council Civic Precinct Steering Group chairwoman and deputy mayor Annette Brosnan, who confirms she is seeking re-election to the council this year for a fourth and final term, says it was a “milestone” to see the demolition resource consent lodged last month, and she expects the tendering to be quick with a start on site in July.

It’s hoped demolition would take 3-6 months, and the site will be prepared as a city space for the expected 18 months before the start of Stage 1 construction in 2024, including a new library and public council space: “Where you pay your rates .”

Hawke’s Bay company Demolition 1 proprietor Ivan Yukich confirmed he’d tender, having been involved in significant demolition in Napier over the last decade, including Napier Hospital, other Hastings St buildings including the Odeon Theater and former Commercial Hotel, and the late-1980s.

He said the Civic Building demolition appears straight-forward. While there are “asbestos issues”, which can sometimes prolong the work, he expects it a job able to be done in less than six months.

Both the three-storey building, which opened in 1967, during the 18-year mayoralty of Sir Peter Tait, and the adjoining public library were vacated in December 2017, after a seismic assessment revealing the buildings were earthquake prone.

The Civic Building came in at just 10 per cent of the National Building Standards, and the library at 15 per cent, in the “very high” risk to life category in a significant earthquake – 25 times greater relative to that of a new building.

The assessment was done during a nationwide focus on seismic risk after the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, and the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

Napier council administration, planning and other office staff have since been located in at least three sites, including headquarters and Mayoral Chambers in Cape View House, on the corner of Marine Parade and Vautier St, upstairs in the old Post Office building on the corner of Hastings St and Dickens St, and a public service center in ground floor Dunvegan house, on the opposite side of Station St from the vacated civic building.

The public library is based at the MTG on Herschell St, with some services also at the Taradale Public Library.

Meetings of the council and its committees have since been held mainly in the nearby Hawke’s Bay Regional Council facilities or at the War Memorial Center on Marine Parade.

The council has budgeted $55 million for a civic precinct redevelopment still in the design phases, with Boffa Miskell, Athfield Architects and Hawke’s Bay architect Jacob Scott.

But it is not alone, with such buildings as the Wellington Central Library, the Masterton Town Hall, the Southland Museum, and numerous other public facilities closed throughout New Zealand, some to be re-strengthened, some to be demolished.

In a report last year an independent research organization described it as “rapid closure of a number of council buildings throughout the country” and questioned some decision-making.

The introduction of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act in 2016 (the 2016 Act) reinforced perceptions of risk through the legal requirement for certain buildings to have seismic assessments undertaken.

It led to a focus on the percentage of the new building standard ratings, with buildings rating less than 34 per cent often determined by territorial local authorities to be earthquake prone, with defined timeframes for remediation.

The report says there is a “common misconception in some sectors that, if a building is rated as less than 34 per cent NBS and/or declared closed earthquake prone, the building is dangerous and should be immediately.

“This is often reinforced by a common belief amongst territorial authorities that the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) creates significant legal exposure for senior staff responsible for council buildings that have been judged to be seismically vulnerable,” it says.

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