Tag Archives: Demolition

Calder Stewart pay up #Carisbrook

What will Dave and the greenies spend this loot on ?

ODT 23.7.16 (page 6)

2016-07-23 22.18.13

Link: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/391281/dcc-paid-31-million-carisbrook-sale

█ For more, enter the terms *carisbrook* or *orfu* in the search box at right.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

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Uglies: Black-tie at 715 George

Habitable rooms, 715 George St cnr Regent Rd blot 1715 George St, corner Regent Rd, Dunedin

█ Clan Construction Commercial Ltd
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/4013678

### ODT Online Thu, 10 Dec 2015
Student apartments going up
Construction has begun on six new student apartments at the corner of George St and Regent Rd, Dunedin. The 962sq m triangular-shaped site is owned by Straits International Ltd, and was the site of a service station for about 80 years. The Dunedin City Council has given resource consent for the company to construct four residential units in a two-storey building (block 1) and two residential units in a three-storey building (block 2), thereby creating 22 habitable rooms. Construction is expected to be completed next year.
ODT Link

Comments at ODT Online:

Student apartments
Submitted by Barnaby on Thu, 10/12/2015 – 6:35pm.

No! This was not a service station site for 80 years. There was a beautiful two-storey substantial brick heritage house on this site until about the 1970s. This is just another step in the incremental loss of North End heritage. This shows very poor planning from DCC, making this part of town, and the main street in this case, an ever expanding precinct of badly designed cheaply built high density housing. These will add to the stock of other similar structures forming “North Dunedin’s slums of the future”. Ratepayers’ will probably end up funding the future purchase of such cheap accomodation to mitigate associated social problems and the appalling visual amenity. Very poor city planning indeed.

Habitable room disasters
Submitted by ej kerr on Fri, 11/12/2015 – 12:43pm.

Prominent George St corner sites are being trashed by the banal. More habitable rooms – No emphasis on good contemporary design, no flair.
This one’s built right to the footpath on the main street, with little modulation and no hint of garden or vertical planting possible, except something to the corner part-screened by the witless bus shelter shoved on its concrete pad.
Given the rich inheritance, where has Dunedin street architecture gone? Where are the design professions? Why so much visual erosion? Where is the NZ Institute of Architects? Why no City Architect Office and independent Urban Design Panel to uphold design values for Dunedin residents and ratepayers?
Ugh! DCC planning fail. DCC urban design fail. DCC district plan fail. When will DCC grow up – to promote sympathetic edgy contemporary architecture and design for major city axials, at the very least. A step up from turning Dunedin into bog city with tawdry gateway approaches.

Related Posts and Comments:
[distasteful]
6.1.14 George Street: Two new uglies (thanks DCC, no City Architect…)

[sensitive]
9.1.14 Facadism: 3%, 10%, 50%, 75%, 99.9% (how much is enough) | University of Otago warps Castle Street

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: misted lettered tweaked by whatifdunedin

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Stadium Review: dark yet rosy thoughts

ODT 28.8.14 Letter to the editor Cuthbert p12 (1)ODT 28.8.14 (page 12)

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Prista Apartments Ltd: vulgar design, weak facadism, dog of a new infill to street #compromise

COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE

DCC reference: LUC-2008-580
Decision: DCC granted resource consent to Prista Apartments Ltd (applicant)
Subject site: 372-392 Princes Street and 11 Stafford Street, Dunedin

Historic heritage and precinct matters:
● District Plan listed facades for protection: 372-392 Princes Street
● District Plan listed South Princes Street Townscape Precinct (TH04)

Environment Court Appeal: Lodged by New Zealand Historic Places Trust on 5 October 2010. Subsequently, Elizabeth Kerr and Peter Entwisle registered as RMA s274 parties to appeal.

————–

LATEST IN BRIEF
After considerable delays, caucusing between the parties has resulted in a Consent Order from the Environment Court, such that there is:

● protection for only three existing heritage building facades to Princes Street (380, 386 and 392);
● one new façade (372 Princes Street) directly to street for new commercial building at 372-392 Princes Street (comprising apartments, retail and internal parking);
● one new commercial building to 11 Stafford Street;
● monitor against damage to historic Empire Hotel south of the application site; and
● site redevelopment at 372-392 Princes Street (including pre-1900 bread ovens at 392 Princes Street) subject to separate archaeological authority process.

Consent lapse date: 1 July 2021
No DCC-imposed bond required of the developer, Prista Apartments Ltd.

[Building colour and signage require separate resource consent.]

The following Consent Order is the culmination of a protracted process of negotiation between the parties New Zealand Historic Places Trust (Appellant), Dunedin City Council (Respondent) and the Applicant, Prista Apartments Ltd (Luke Dirkzwager of Christchurch).

Consent Order 26.6.14 (PDF, 748 KB)

Indicative renderings by Fulton Ross Team Architects, Christchurch show approximate bulk, scale and architectural treatment (December 2013) — at first floor level immediately above the verandah the building facades mask car parking, resulting in an obvious strip of dead window space:

PristaApartments (Consent Order 26.6.14) 2

PristaApartments (Consent Order 26.6.14)

Was it a frustrating anger-inducing process to get to this COMPROMISE ???
You betcha, for All concerned. Especially against the receiving environment at Dunedin where local developers and property investors hold a substantially different view to building conservation, sense of place, and sympathetic adaptive reuse for contemporary and future ownership, tenanting and business opportunities. However, all that is Cut Dead at this particular spot in Princes Street by a Christchurch personality who appears to be in no rush to build.
His buildings must remain safe and pose no threat to the general public in the meantime.

Prista Apartments 372-392 Princes St, Dunedin (IMG_8407a1)

JGillies schematic architectural history (2a)

Related Posts and Comments:
4.3.11 Reaction to another instance of unthinking ad-hocism from City Hall
15.9.10 Prista Apartments: Resource consent Decision + Appeal
4.5.10 Prista Apartments: Dunedin’s goldrush-era heritage won’t fall over…
24.1.10 Prista Apartments: 372-392 Princes St and 11 Stafford St

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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George Street: Two new uglies (thanks DCC, no City Architect…)

(just DCC resource management planners with no design training, and use of the odd ‘consulting architect’ who lamely fails to press that architectural details be made “right”, lest they upset “the boys”—be they lousy small-time architects (as opposed to REAL DESIGN ARCHITECTS), architectural designers, draftsmen, builders, property developers or investors). Our kindom, for a City Architect —to compile and enforce design guidelines, and through district plan mechanisms, to require the use of registered architects by developers working in important townscape precincts like George Street, and to shove an unforgiving multidisciplinary Urban Design Panel at the buggers.

No. 1 —Apartments, 581 George Street
We’re all familiar with Farry’s Motel, now Farry’s Motel Apartments at 575 George Street. The complex used to look out on a green area, and vehicle parking with mature trees and shrubbery at 581.

DCC Webmap 575-581 George StreetDCC Webmap 575-581 George Street

Malcolm Farry recently sold the properties at 575 and 581 to Ethel Limited, a family company led by Frank Cazemier who has worked for Cutlers as a “University Investment Sales Specialist”. A cursory check of directorships at the NZ Companies Office website shows Cazemier is “one of the boys”. Pity he knows next to nothing about contextual commercial residential design, architectural bulk and location, facade modulation, sun angles, or landscape architecture —such that can’t be solved by ready trees.

575 George St (1c) IMG_4619581 George St (1c) IMG_4618581 George St (2d) IMG_4623

Farry’s Motel Apartments now looks out on a poorly designed featureless boundary fence, and the sobering double block of apartments ‘next door’ at 581. The block furthest from the street (walls of light blue), when seen from driveways to either side, reveals a ‘long elevation’ running parallel to George Street that resembles a jerry-built, badly-windowed reclad of a tired country hall (the low, horizontally-orientated fenestration allows for another floor of rooms above, in the roofspace).

581 George St (3c) IMG_4602581 George St (4c) IMG_4606

The marketing statement for Farry’s Motel Apartments at 575 still says:
“Set alongside a large grassed area that provides a playground and picnic spots, we are one of the most centrally located Dunedin motels, offering an absolutely superb main street position.”

This is no longer the case.
The very likely expensive exercise in ‘infill design’ (intensification/ densification…) issued from the drawing board of Bill Henderson, Architect of (fuck-a-daisy)WANAKA —someone who appears to work at the ‘cheap-looking’ end of the market, or at least has diminished design flare, poor knowledge of scale detail and proportion, and lack of expertise in three-dimensional architectural composition. As a result, and while meeting planning criteria for the zone, the motels/apartments at 575 and 581 now look about fit for student stays only, or at a pinch, the G&T parents of capping graduands. No fear, the new apartments will be mouth-wateringly expensive to rent. The student ghetto continues, behind the tacky dress-up to George Street.

Incidently, Farry’s operates a charge back system with the former Farry-owned Cargill’s Hotel, now Quality Hotel Cargills at 686 George Street.

****

No. 2 —Apartments, 2 St David Street, cnr George Street
There used to be a nice old single-storey bungalow with fine curving bay windows and a palm tree on this site, next to Quality Hotel Cargills. Only the palm tree remains. The bungalow became victim to an excavator. It isn’t clear if the windows and internal period joinery (if still present) were dismantled for re-use.

DCC Webmap - 2 St David Street2 St David Street (7b) IMG_03402 St David Street (9c)

The site is now owned by Newmarket Investments Limited and has been recently developed for apartments. The company directors are Clive Hewitson and wife Wendy May Hewitson. Clive Hewitson’s profile at LinkedIn says: “Director – Otago & Southland, New Zealand | Real Estate”. Hewitson is another of the “boys”, as records at the NZ Companies Office show. Some link up in the past with companies of which Frank Cazemier (mentioned above) has also been a director.

2 St David Street (2b) IMG_45912 St David Street (3b) IMG_4580

The apartment complex is faced, not too convincingly, in ‘red brick’ – at first glance, no-one can tell if it’s real brick facing or veneer! Questionable are the lack of reveals, and the scale and position of openings (doors and windows) in the street elevations; with tweaking to proportions and placements this could have solved. The glazing bars are wrong. Small frosted bathroom and toilet windows to the street (on the public face of your building) are a No-no. The shallowness of the gables to the street elevations, also grates in perspective. The grey wooden pickets added to the base of the original garden fence are odd. The whole is unnecessarily dreary. Taxi drivers hate it. The pencil cypresses may provide a foil, once mature (the building really needs one hell of a lot of ivy). Have to admit, designing anything between Quality Hotel Cargills and Econo Lodge Alcala is a free-for-all, BUT why not try…

2 St David Street (6c2) IMG_4583No registered architect. It shows. The developer used RJ Oliver Architectural Design, Mosgiel – spot the spelling mistake!

2 St David Street (1b) IMG_45982 St David Street (5b) IMG_4595

Why didn’t Quality Hotel Cargills buy 2 St David Street to take control of the prominent corner to George Street? We note Dunedin architect Hamish Wixon is a director/shareholder of 678 George Street Limited and Cargills Hotel Limited. Perhaps we can look forward to developments at the tired Cargills…

****

Strategic Site: 715 George Street, cnr Regent Road
Can we possibly imagine what will get built on the site of the former BP 2go Regent service station? Another horror story? Another ‘architectual’ (sic) bodice-ripper? 715 is owned by Northfield Property and Investment Company Limited. The sole director is Bryan Howard Usher of Dunedin.

DCC Webmap - 715 George StreetDCC Webmap – 715 George Street (context)

Post and building images by Elizabeth Kerr

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Demolishing serious mistakes

Wayne County jail crushed [myfoxdetroit.com][Rebuilding Awatea Street?]

### myfoxdetroit.com Oct 17, 2013 11:03 AM Updated: Oct 18, 2013 2:40 AM
Wayne County’s new jail being turned into a pile of rubble
By Charlie LeDuff – FOX 2 News
DETROIT (WJBK) — So I’m driving by the Wayne County Jail and – look – what are they doing? Working on it again? Nope.

They’re taking it apart.

And where are they taking it? They’re bringing it to be crushed up into dust. $404 million dollars – WASTED.

We’ve told you for two years that this thing was going to be over budget and not be big enough. They’ve already sunk $200 million into it – plus interest. Don’t forget the interest. $404 million. So what’s the answer? They’re crushing it. They’re crushing it without having told the county commission, the news media and most importantly: the taxpaying public.
Read more

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: myfoxdetroit.com – Wayne County jail crushed

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Chongqing, Southwest China

Chongqing, China (aerial 2006)### news.xinhuanet.com | English.news.cn 2013-01-26 21:27:26
Chongqing sets new roadmap in post-Bo Xilai era
CHONGQING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Chongqing’s municipal government vowed Saturday it would shake off the impacts of the Bo Xilai scandal and make law-abiding governance the priority alongside further reform. Huang Qifan, mayor of the metropolis in southwest China, described 2012 as an “extremely extraordinary year” for Chongqing’s development in his report on the work of the municipal government, which was delivered to the 4th Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress.

The local legislature convened its annual session on Saturday with aims to outline the city’s future blueprint for the next five years. The mayor said the government has endeavoured to maintain steady economical and social development despite the severe toll of the incidents involving Bo Xilai, with the city recording an annual economic growth of 13.6 percent. “It turned out that Chongqing citizens have weathered storms and withstood ordeals,” he said.

The government published the full text of its work report, in which it placed governing in accordance with the Constitution and the law as a main focus for this year, while references to Chongqing’s previous high-profile crackdowns on organised crimes are notably absent. In 2009, when Bo Xilai was the CPC (Communist Party of China) chief of Chongqing, the city launched a massive anti-crime campaign, prioritising fighting local mafia-style gangs. Though Bo and Chongqing’s police were credited with reducing crime, concerns were raised about abuses of power and the neglect of due legal process.

The government should rule in accordance with the law, and “no organisation or individual has the privilege to overstep the Constitution and the law,” the work report said. A power reshuffle in this session is set to usher in new local leaders, higher requirements are posed for the municipal government to further intensify reform, Huang told the lawmakers, adding that improvement to work style should be made following the central leadership’s call for eradicating bureaucracy and formalism in December.

Officials in Chongqing are urged to remain low-key and down to earth, talk less and work more to better serve the people.
Read more

****

“Amazing city… but without spirit… is a City with many construction. Don’t have the beauty of Brasilia… is a new city of construction.” —Cidade_Branca (architect) at SkyscaperCity CHONGQING | Projects & Construction (2.11.07 03:36 AM)

Wikipedia: Chongqing

Chongqing, two rivers (1)

“One river is naturally brown from the silt, the other is normal dark blue.”
the spliff fairy at SkyscraperCity (28.2.13 01:54 PM)

### nytimes.com September 26, 2011
Built in a Dirty Boom, China’s Biggest City Tries to Go Green
By Coco Liu – ClimateWire
CHONGQING, China — Wandering around in downtown Chongqing, it is hard to imagine that this is a city that is going green. Vehicles clog roads in every direction. Construction cranes stretch to the horizon. And huge posters displaying locally produced industrial goods show where the city’s exploding economic growth is coming from. But Chongqing (population 28,846,200) is more than meets the eye. After living with acid rain and toxic smog for decades, the city has been scrambling for ways to clean up the air. It is also overhauling its power-hungry economy and rebuilding it on a base of industries that use less energy.

Chongqing isn’t alone on such a transformation path. It is one of several pilot provinces and cities that Chinese leaders picked last year in an attempt to find a low-carbon growth model that can be spread to the rest of the nation. Experts attribute this new Chinese desire to the fact that China’s environment and natural resources can no longer afford the blights of heavily polluting, energy-intensive growth. Moreover, there is growing pressure from the outside world to reduce emissions.

Chongqing, controlled demolition 30-8-12 (2)Chongqing, controlled demolition 30-8-12 (1)Chongqing, controlled demolition 30.8.12

Cities will play a major role in that effort. During the next 20 years, more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from the developing world’s cities, and more than half of that will come from Chinese cities, says Michael Lindfield, a lead urban development specialist at the Asian Development Bank. “So the importance of making Chinese cities energy-efficient is really a global issue, not just a Chinese issue,” Lindfield added.

But none of this comes easily. For one, it is hard for cities to uproot decades-old economic foundations. In addition, cities risk revenue losses. Energy-guzzling factories that are shut down, in many cases, can’t be immediately offset by low-carbon industries that are still in their nascent stage. Moreover, the switch from traditional industries to green businesses claims jobs, at least for a short term. While cement makers can hire people with few skills, solar panel producers can’t.

Chongqing [became] one of the nation’s industrial hubs. It is China’s biggest producer of motorcycles. It leads in aluminum production. Every day, containers of made-in-Chongqing steel, chemicals and machinery are loaded on cargo ships and then sent from here to destinations along the Yangtze River. All this came at a heavy price.

Data from the World Bank showed that in the early 2000s, one-third of crops in the Chongqing area had been damaged by acid rain — the result of sulfur dioxide and other industrial pollutants. Breathing here became a dangerous thing to do. The World Bank reported that in 2004, residents in Chongqing were inhaling six times more lung cancer-causing pollutants than the World Health Organization considers safe.

“The city was always enveloped by fog and smog,” explained Li, the local economist. The mountain terrain around it helped concentrate Chongqing’s murky air, he said, “but pollution from heavy industries was the key.”
Read more

Chongqing Planning and Exhibition Centre. The city model shows a concept idea of the future of Chongqing. Most important skyscrapers aren’t added until they have a definitive design. —z0rg at SkyscraperCity CHONGQING | Projects & Construction (6.8.06 09:32 PM)

Chongqing Planning and Exhibition Centre 6.8.06100 towers taller than 200m including 20 supertalls in one city.
Chongqing 200+ metre Listz0rg at SkyscraperCity (6.7.08 10:05 AM)

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[ODT] The project was being advanced on their behalf by Betterways, of which Ms Jing Song was also a director.

### ODT Online Sat, 23 Mar 2013
Betterways, Diamond Heights link
By Chris Morris
DUNEDIN — The construction company linked to Dunedin’s proposed $100 million waterfront hotel is building the tallest tower in western China. The building will be the tallest for the time being, at least. It has been confirmed the company linked to Dunedin’s proposed hotel is Diamond Heights Construction Engineering Co Ltd, which is based in Chongqing, China, and employs more than 1000 staff. The company is owned by Ping Cao, who together with wife Jing Song, of Queenstown, wants to build Dunedin’s five-star hotel on industrial land at 41 Wharf St.

While it was said Diamond Heights would not be directly involved in construction of Dunedin’s hotel – should consent to proceed be granted – Mr Cao and Ms Song planned to fund it together and contract a New Zealand company to build it.

Mr Cao’s company is responsible for the construction of the 65-storey Shangri-la Hotel in Chongqing, which at 290m high will, when completed, be nearly three times the height of Dunedin’s proposed hotel. It was almost finished, with only the exterior cladding to be added, and was an impressive sight when visited by Betterways Advisory Ltd director Steve Rodgers last year, he told the Otago Daily Times.
The company was also involved in other projects in China, including two sprawling mixed-use developments comprising hotels, other commercial buildings and housing.
Read more

Chongqing, Shangri-la Hotel at nightShangri-La Hotels and Resorts is said to be Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group. Four Shangri-La hotels are projected for Chongqing.
Image: businesstraveller.asia

Related Posts and Comments:
16.3.13 Hotel: COC jollies and sweet cherry pie
23.1.13 Proposed hotel: Council and submitters await detailed information
28.12.12 ‘Low-rises are great for the community and the residents’
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
21.12.12 Proposed hotel – ODT graphic indicates building height
19.12.12 Hearing for proposed hotel – competencies, conflicts of interest?
16.12.12 Proposed Dunedin Hotel #height
10.12.12 Proposed hotel, 41 Wharf St – “LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS”
7.12.12 Proposed hotel – Truescape shenanigans
6.12.12 Dunedin Hotel – revised design
2.12.12 Roy Rogers and Trigger photographed recently at Dunedin
26.11.12 Proposed hotel, 41 Wharf Street – indicative landscape effects
20.11.12 City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel
10.11.12 Dunedin Hotel, 41 Wharf Street (LUC 2012-212)
4.10.12 DUNEDIN: We’re short(!) but here is some UK nous…
8.9.12 Waterfront Hotel #Dunedin (Applicant names?)
7.9.12 Waterfront hotel: DCC to notify resource consent application
23.6.12 Mis(t)apprehension: website visits, not bookings?
16.5.12 Dunedin Hotel

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Owners of neglected buildings


[Thumbnails: ODT Files]

There are no surprises about the requirements on the separate owners of the Barron Building, N. & E.S. Paterson Building and Brocklebanks Building. Following the structural failure of parts of their buildings, for which the owners are responsible, the owners have been fully informed of their obligations. Further, had they acted earlier, as good stewards, to have their buildings structurally assessed and strengthened all that has passed since could have been avoided. All three buildings are located in District Plan listed townscape precincts. The Brocklebanks Building has a District Plan protected facade to King Edward St.

### ODT Online Tue, 8 May 2012
A ‘nightmare’ waiting to have collapsed buildings demolished
By Allison Rudd
The owners of two unstable 19th-century Dunedin buildings say they cannot believe how long it is taking to demolish them. Lincoln Darling, owner of the Barron Building in Rattray St, which partly collapsed in January last year, said yesterday he “didn’t realise there was so much red tape involved” in demolishing a building. Norma Brocklebank, co-owner of the Brocklebank Dry Cleaners building in King Edward St, South Dunedin, said yesterday waiting so long to demolish her building when its facade was ruled almost a year ago to be in immediate danger of collapsing and the building condemned had been a “nightmare”.

Mr Darling and Scenic Circle Hotel Group director Stuart McLauchlan said yesterday the demolition of their buildings was imminent. A contractor had been given the go-ahead to proceed and demolition could not happen soon enough, Mr McLauchlan said.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Expedience: Dunedin City Council’s blunt instrument to demolish listed buildings

Resource Consent Application: LUC-2011-567
191 King Edward Street, Dunedin

Senior planner Campbell Thomson addressing the Applicant on behalf of the Dunedin City Council as at 27 January 2012, writes:

[excerpt, page 1]
“Your application for land use consent for the demolition of an existing building listed in Schedule 25.1 of the District Plan and located within a townscape precinct, at 191 King Edward Street, Dunedin, was processed on a non-notified basis in accordance with sections 95A to 95F of the Resource Management Act 1991. The application was considered by a Senior Planner under delegated authority on 27 January 2012.

“I advise that the Council has granted consent to the application with conditions. The decision and condition are shown on the attached certificate.”

Under ‘Planning Assessment’, Mr Thomson states:

[excerpt, page 3]
Affected Persons
No written consents were submitted with the application. No parties are considered to be adversely affected by this proposal for the reasons outlined below in the section headed Effects on the Environment. It is noted that the New Zealand Historic Places Trust were consulted as a Statutory Body with an interest in the proposal. Their concerns will be addressed through the requirement for an Archaeological Authority which applies to the proposal. There are no special circumstances which warrant notification of this application. While demolition of heritage or townscape buildings generally raises issues of public interest, in this case, the structural condition of the building has reached a state whereby removal of the building façade has become necessary as a matter of public safety. The key environmental issue relevant to this proposal is how to mitigate the loss of the building.”

It is unreasonable and erroneous, in the context provided by the letter writer, for the Dunedin City Council to state that “the New Zealand Historic Places Trust were consulted”.

It is unreasonable and erroneous of the Council to claim “No parties are considered to be adversely affected by this proposal”, supported by following paragraphs that do not mitigate the wrongfulness of the unjust premise.

The letter granting consent carries other instances of pomposity and disregard for due process. Where does natural justice fit?

This forum isn’t the appropriate place to debate glaring technicalities, in light of what ‘affected party’ status requires as a burden of care on the part of the Dunedin City Council. Suffice to say, the Council is telling porkies.

Furthermore, the Dunedin City Council cannot hope to reduce or limit the work, powers and functions of the autonomous Crown Entity, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, empowered under the Historic Places Act 1993, to just that of regulatory responsibilities regarding archaeological sites — for the Council’s own undemocratic purposes.

Certainly, not by Mr Thomson’s convenient slip of the Council’s red pen.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

### D Scene 22.2.12
Opinion: Protecting heritage (page 7)
By Owen Graham
When is a heritage building protected, and when is it not? That question is one that deserves closer attention as the effects of building neglect become more apparent in our city. In the coming months more gaps will occur in our city heritage precincts, particularly with buildings in Rattray St and King Edward St being readied for demolition. They were not damaged by earthquakes, rather by successive owners who have opted to diminish their attractiveness, economic viability and historical significance in what ultimately results in demolition by neglect. {continues} #bookmark

• Owen Graham is the New Zealand Historic Places Trust area manager (Otago/Southland)

Register to read D Scene online at
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

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Rattray St buildings up for full demolition say McLauchlan and Darling

Bulldozer-city tactics again, Boys? Look what happened to the bluestone wall in the High Street car park, to be retained by conditions of an archaeological authority—last photographed by ODT this summer, in a state of neglect with weeds all over it (having been ‘nudged’ with an excavator during construction of the car park). That should have been a prosecution. Not sure you can get off the same hook twice.

### ODT Online Tue, 31 Jan 2012
Demolition set to resume, but HPT says authority required
By Debbie Porteous
Demolition work is due to restart soon on on two adjoining buildings in Rattray St, Dunedin, more than a year after the roof of one of them, the 136-year-old [Barron] building, collapsed. Stuart McLauchlan, a director of the Scenic Circle Hotel Group, which owns the N. & E.S. Paterson building beside the [Barron] building, confirmed yesterday that demolition on the two buildings, which share a common wall, should begin within in the next few weeks. But the Historic Places Trust says an archeological authority needs to be done, at least on the [Barron] building, before any demolition work begins.
Read more

Urban blight in the hands of expensive men.

People love *cough* the frontage to Scenic Circle’s High Street car park (here seen from behind) – the architect more than completely failed. More joy for Rattray Street if this model is followed; the High Street car park is one of the worst pot-holing disasters in the central city. Not a desirable neighbour for the earthquake-strengthened and fully refurbished historic Bing Harris building across the street.

Not known for his good taste,
“Mr McLauchlan said the section where the N. & E.S. Paterson building stood would be turned into a car park, and an entrance built with a facade similar to that of the other entrance to the car park, in High St.”

The Southern Cross (now owned by the Scenic Circle Hotel Group) greatly enhanced the townscape appearance of Rattray St in the twentieth century. Tui. [Since this shot was taken the Barron building has been lowered to two floors only, and the roof of the N. & E.S. Paterson building has been removed.]

The buildings for demolition at 173 and 175 Rattray St are both located in the North Princes Street/Moray Place/Exchange Townscape Precinct (TH03).

Related Posts:
8.5.12 Owners of neglected buildings
12.4.11 Public outrage – SHAME on those re$pon$ible for building neglect
4.3.11 Reaction to another instance of unthinking ad-hocism from City Hall
19.2.11 Owner of Dragon Café/Barron Building has lodged an application…
26.1.11 D Scene: Honour heritage
22.1.11 SAVE Dragon Café / Barron Building – Sign the Online Petition
13.1.11 Barron Building and Rattray Street
13.1.11 Banks, Barron & Co Building Collapse pics

25.8.11 180 Rattray St, Dunedin: Proposed historic building demolition…

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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180 Rattray St, Dunedin — former P. Hayman & Co. Building (1872)

North Princes Street/Moray Place/Exchange Townscape Precinct (TH03)

Correction: The council received 12 submissions on the application.

### ODT Online Tue, 11 Oct 2011
Demolition hearing delayed
By Chris Morris
A 19th-century central Dunedin commercial building has been granted a temporary reprieve from the wrecking ball, after an application to demolish it to make way for a car park was placed on hold. However, building owner Lincoln Darling said when contacted yesterday he planned to proceed with the application next year, and nothing had changed. Mr Darling had sought resource consent to demolish the former Furniture Court Building at 180 Rattray St and replace it with a rental car park until another development opportunity arose.

• “Obviously, you do look at submissions … if they [submitters] want to chat with me I’m quite happy to talk to them about their concerns.” -Lincoln Darling

• New Zealand Historic Places Trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham, in his submission, argued the “deficient” application lacked a detailed heritage assessment.

• Mr Darling said he had contacted Mr Graham last week to arrange a meeting, but had no views on his submission as “I haven’t even read it”.

Read more

Related Post, Comments and Recent Correspondence:
25.8.11 180 Rattray St, Dunedin: Proposed historic building demolition…

Lincoln Darling and friends might like to attend the DCC Workshop for heritage building owners on Wednesday, 23 November.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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180 Rattray St, Dunedin: Proposed historic building demolition means loss of nineteenth century alley

The Exchange area stands to lose the solid Victorian era building constructed of bluestone and brick, with a modern frontage, standing next door to the listed Speight’s Shamrock Building (1912-1913), opposite the listed Crown Hotel (1890). Significantly, the proposed site development at 180 Rattray Street will also destroy one of Dunedin’s outstanding nineteenth century service alleys.

The former P. Hayman & Co. Building (1872) under threat of demolition is located in the district plan listed North Princes Street / Moray Place / Exchange Townscape Precinct (TH03). The building, designed by architect David Ross, is not individually listed for protection in the district plan (Schedule 25.1); nor is it registered by New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

The Dunedin City Council has recently granted demolition consent for the N. & E.S. Paterson Building (date?) and the Barron Building (1875) in Rattray Street.
[ODT link]

180 Rattray Street, Dunedin
Resource consent is sought to demolish the existing building on site; and to use the empty site for stand alone rental car parking.

The resource consent application from Paterson Pitts, on behalf of building owner Lincoln Darling, says: “Although it was built before 1900 and had bluestone foundations and ground floor, the modernisation of the building had destroyed the original facade to the point it no longer had any heritage significance.”

The application acknowledged the site might be an archaeological site in terms of the Historic Places Act and, if so, an authority might be required.

Closing Date for Submissions: Wednesday 21 September 2011 at 5pm.
Read the application at the DCC website.

### ODT Online Thu, 25 Aug 2011
Application to demolish building
By Debbie Porteous
Consent is being sought to demolish the former Furniture Court Building in Rattray St, Dunedin, and use the site as a car park. The resource consent application from Paterson Pitts, on behalf of building owner Lincoln Darling, states Mr Darling had been unable to attract any tenants after Furniture Court moved to another location.
Read more

Rattray Street circa 1900. Hocken Collections [c/n E3856/42]
At far left, P Hayman & Co’s store, 180 Rattray Street

Related Posts:
12.4.11 Public outrage – SHAME on those re$pon$ible for building neglect
19.2.11 Owner of Dragon Café/Barron Building has lodged an application to demolish.
26.1.11 D Scene: Honour heritage
22.1.11 SAVE Dragon Café / Barron Building – Sign the Online Petition
13.1.11 Barron Building and Rattray Street
13.1.11 Banks, Barron & Co Building Collapse pics
Lincoln Darling is the current owner of the Barron Building.

ODT Online:
21.5.11 Downfall of the Dainty Dairy
21.5.11 Land, lots of land
3.5.11 ‘Holes’ spoil townscape – DCC

See comments at (14.4.11) Public consultation for DCC Earthquake-prone Buildings Policy. Lincoln Darling is a former owner of the Dainty Dairy on Stuart Street, another historic commercial building under threat of demolition.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Otago Stadium – design changes

[subtitle: Farry, the permanent thorn]

### ODT Online Tue, 14 Jun 2011
Stadium demolition ‘regrettable’: Davies
By David Loughrey
Design changes at the Forsyth Barr Stadium have resulted in areas being dismantled and rebuilt, as the company that will run the venue makes changes to catering and bar facilities. The work was described yesterday by Cr Lee Vandervis as “demolition”, but that description was denied by Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman, Malcolm Farry.

It was, though, an “entirely regrettable” matter, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) chief executive, David Davies, said.

Read more

****

Report – FSD – 13/06/2011 (PDF, 1.9 MB)
Stadium Precinct Executive Summary 15

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Demolition by Diocese…

Feeling VERY Presbyterian this week. Oi. What is adaptive reuse.

### ODT Online Wed, 20 Apr 2011
Kavanagh College expansion begins
By John Lewis
The demolition of two large buildings in Tennyson St yesterday signalled the beginning of a major expansion of Kavanagh College in Dunedin. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin took advantage of a rare opportunity to expand the college grounds by up to 25%, by buying the neighbouring Otago Polytechnic grounds last year.

The building on the corner of Tennyson St and York Pl would remain untouched because an application had been made by the Historic Places Trust in Dunedin to make it a category 2 historic building. It is believed to be of historic importance because it was where prominent New Zealand artist Colin McCahon was trained.

Read more

****

New Zealand Historic Places Trust’s heritage assessment (October 2009) says:

The three buildings at 136 Tennyson Street are part of the original King Edward Technical College (KETC), the largest secondary school in New Zealand for over twenty years.

The Dunedin Art School, on the corner of York Place and Tennyson Street, was built in 1937 and designed by the Government Architect John Mair.

With internationally prominent teachers, the Art School was a training ground for the likes of Colin McCahon and became the springboard for New Zealand modernism.

When the three buildings were taken over by the Otago Polytechnic in 1963, the Marlow and [Art School] buildings became the foundation of the Department of Hospitality and Services. Later the department extended into the Patrick building where it established a training restaurant named for KETC’s most famous student, Joseph Mellor. The restaurant became a popular public eatery. The buildings were vacated by the Polytechnic in mid-2009.

The Dunedin School of Arts was founded in 1870 when the services of David Con Hutton were secured by the Otago Education Board. In 1921 the Art School was officially incorporated as a department of KETC. For ten years the Art Department moved around various areas of the main building. In 1937 the purpose-built Art School was opened on the corner of Tennyson Street and York Place.

The Art School building was partially funded by a substantial grant from the Government. As the Project was in the hands of the Public Works Department, the plans were designed by the Government Architect, John Mair (1876-1959). The Board’s architects of choice, Mandeno and Fraser, were apparently retained only to organise the site and design the retaining walls necessary for the erection of the School.

From 1923 to 1941 Mair was responsible for most of the government buildings erected in New Zealand, many of them involving significant departures from tradition and precedent in both style and construction methods. During his tenure, modernist architectural precepts displaced the revivalist styles favoured for public buildings in the past. Construction methods also began to utilise concrete and structural steel instead of brick and timber.

These construction methods were in evidence in the plans for the Art School. The Board, however, was in favour of brick in keeping with the original portion of KETC. In response, Mair convinced the Principal of the justification for a building framed in wood with well-concreted foundations, steeltex and plaster walls with a tiled roof.

Sketch plans were ready by August 1935. The design was of an impressive entrance and two-story building on the corner of Tennyson Street and York Place, and a one story wing running down York Place. Tenders for the Art School were called for in May 1936. The successful contractor was D.A. O’Connell & Co. The Head of the School, Tovey, was responsible for internal fittings.

The School included nine classrooms, mostly with dimensions of c. 30 x 26”, and several offices. The interiors were lined with tentest wallboard. The entrance was impressive and lined in black tiles. One of the classrooms remains largely unaltered.

****

Details you’ll never see again…

The Marlow Building, opened in 1948 as the new domestic wing, was similarly designed by Mair. The building is being demolished this week, apart from the archway section to Tennyson St. Someone should be fired.

****

The JM Patrick Building was designed by Mandeno and Fraser, as were the earlier portions of KETC, and opened in 1960. Gone this week, too. It had nice pipes (later additions).

Images ©2010 Elizabeth Kerr

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Christchurch heritage buildings approved for demolition #eqnz

Canterbury Earthquake
Media advisory – Tuesday 15 March 2011, 1930 hours

Process for approving deconstruction
In the case of heritage buildings, a robust process is followed that involves an assessment by Heritage and by Lifelines (utilities) and an inspection carried out by a suitably qualified engineer.
Every endeavour is being made to contact all owners of buildings if demolition or deconstruction is necessary.
There will be no salvaging of materials in buildings unless it is by the building owner or those contracted to carry out salvage work.

Heritage buildings approved for deconstruction
* Provincial Hotel – 274 Cashel Street
* 112 Centaurus Road – Dwelling
* Cathedral Grammar – Chester Street West 8 (2), Stratham Building
* Austral Building – 603 – 615 Colombo Street (includes 170 Tuam Street)
* Bean Bags and Beyond – 626 (aka 626) Colombo Street
* 625 – 629 Colombo Street – Commercial buildings
* Wave House/Winnie Bagoes – 194 Gloucester Street
* Hereford Court – 116 Hereford
* Piko Whole Foods – 229 Kilmore Street
* Park Lane Handbags – 111 – 113 Lichfield Street
* Former Ridley Building – 116 Lichfield Street
* Nurse Maude – 192 Madras Street
* Charlie Backpacker – 268 Madras Street
* Former City Council Offices – 198 Manchester Street
* Forbes Building – 17 Norwich Quay 17, Lyttleton
* Rhodes Memorial Hospital – Overdale Drive 2
* Edison Hall, Workshop, Witchery – 230 – 232 Tuam St
* Domo – 236 Tuam St
* Fuller Brothers Ltd – 180 Tuam Street
* Addington Flour Mill – 14 Wise Street
* Gopals Restaurant and Pedros Restaurant – 143 Worcester Street

This totals 21 buildings, but note that Colombo Street’s Austral Building also includes 170 Tuam Street and there are multiple buildings included in the Colombo Street addresses
NB: This list differs slightly from the list provided at the media briefing today.

Deconstruction of Addington (aka Old Woods) Flour Mill, 14 Wise St
This deconstruction was triggered by USAR, who recommended the partial or total deconstruction of the building for rescue or recovery purposes or because it presents an unacceptable safety risk from aftershocks.
There are three separate buildings on site that were assessed:

* the mill building itself that has the greatest heritage value,
* a chimney, and
* a brick-clad silos assessed as having a lesser heritage value.

The silos and chimney were badly damaged. The mill building itself was assessed as repairable. The engineer’s report recommended the deconstruction of the silos and the chimney only.
This approved deconstruction sign-off process was followed in this case and the recommendation provided to the National Controller for approval/signature on March 3.

Weblink

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Photograph of quake-damaged Addington mill building
By @Motmunter, Campbell Live cameraman

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Adding duress, Christchurch #eqnz

WHAT IF? CORRECTION

This post has been changed on receipt of information from Christchurch to confirm The Press mis-reported which building had been demolished in Hereford Street.

On Friday, a week-long moratorium on demolition was announced for Christchurch, a pause… it didn’t save the Old Trust and Loan building,
and the Olympia building.

Copy supplied:

“Unfortunately Saggio di Vino has gone and they had done so much to try and save it since the first quake. The most appalling thing though is that as well as demolishing the old Trust and Loan building over the weekend – an important Mountfort commercial building, which was badly damaged and probably had to come down, but should have been taken apart carefully – they also demolished the strengthened Olympia building next door which housed Vivace, a popular café.

The owner was not notified, even though he was known and had been part of the delegation. He is furious. They had told Civil Defence that they wanted to get out equipment and the Olympia was not dangerous at all.

All the books in the bookstore on the top floor were destroyed as well, so two tenants have had their livelihoods destroyed in the process of taking down a strengthened and largely undamaged building. It also took them ages to destroy the built-in safe (and what was inside it) from the Trust and Loan.

In the process of this demolition of the pair of buildings they also knocked a hole in the wall of Shands Emporium, the little wooden commercial building next to the NZHPT Southern Regional Office building (Shands was wrongly reported in The Press as having come down).

So much for the moratorium. Was it over-ruled from above or by council officers, some of whom it seems have considerable sway over what has been happening.

The owner of the above buildings who been very responsible about strengthening his buildings has also been denied permission to bring his engineer and builder into the city to ensure that ones which are still standing can be shored up to stop further damage happening from the aftershocks. Because they are not listed – but make an important contribution to the character of the city – they could be pulled down with not even the cursory process which applies for listed buildings.”

Anyone reading this has to think, unhappily, on the one hand ’emergency powers’, on the other ‘sick process’. Buildings will have to come down – the wrong people are making some ad hoc ‘demolition’ decisions. Why are they so uninformed, is it Brownlee up their backs? These particular decision makers, on the hoof, are another blight on Christchurch which already suffers too much.

****

16 March 2011 The Press has made a correction to this item (in italics here).

### thepress.co.nz Last updated 05:00 15/03/2011
Business people want answers
By Olivia Carville
A Christchurch business owner was shocked yesterday when he learnt his central-city building had been demolished. Peter Scalia, who ran Fortuna Books from Shands Emporium on Hereford St, said neither he nor the building owner or leaseholder had been warned of Sunday’s demolition.

“I want to know who authorised it and why we weren’t contacted. If they can demolish the building I was in without any notification, are they going to do it to other buildings?” he said.

Shands Emporium is still standing. Fortuna Books was part of Shands Emporium but in a separate building.

Scalia registered as a central-city business owner last week to gain access to the building and retrieve essential items. However, he said he never heard from authorities.

“I did everything I knew to do. I am really surprised I didn’t even get called before they bowled it. If they had of given me five minutes in there, I could have grabbed my safe, my passport and other documents. Why was it demolished yesterday, why could it not have been tomorrow? I could have been in there today.”
Read more

****

Related post:
8.3.11 LostArtChch website to identify items at risk #eqnz

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Building design to integrate safety, usefulness and enjoyment #eqnz

Design matters in Christchurch. Those supervising the reconstruction of the city should remember that. And they should see it as a positive civic attribute – something to draw on as they put the city back together again.

### nzherald.co.nz 5:30 AM Tuesday Mar 15, 2011
Design integral part of rebuilding city
By Jasper van der Lingen
Christchurch faces a decade of rebuilding. There is an urgent need to get started, and great pressure to get started immediately. Decisions made soon will shape the city for generations. This is the time, right at the outset of reconstruction, to ensure that we establish a rebuilding process and framework that has the best possible chance of producing successful results.
Read more

–Jasper van der Lingen is chairman, Canterbury Branch, New Zealand Institute of Architects

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The co-ordination needed to manage the various responsibilities of public agencies, and extent and timing of investment by the private sector is beyond the mandate or capacities of any existing institution.

### nzherald.co.nz 5:30 AM Tuesday Mar 15, 2011
New approach needed for reconstruction
By Jennifer Dixon
What is the future of Christchurch? After the devastation there have been some exciting visions and proposals offered up for the rebuilding of this city. These embrace new possibilities for urban form and function, the shape and scale of the central business district and what needs to happen to tracts of land in the eastern suburbs, now largely unsuitable for residential living.
Read more

–Jennifer Dixon is a professor of planning and dean of the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries, Auckland University.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Letter from Christchurch 2 #eqnz

UPDATED

Today’s Press has more examples of high-handed action.

The Piko Whole-Foods Co-op store – an important social and architectural landmark – had its top storey removed before the owners knew what was going to happen. The heritage team at Christchurch City Council worked with the owners to try and stop the demolition but the top floor had already gone by the time they got there and its landmark value has been completely destroyed. The building had been earthquake strengthened within the past few years and though it did have some serious damage it is far from clear that it was beyond repair.

It had the misfortune to be sited on a major intersection of the one way system and we all know that free movement of cars must be put ahead of buildings. There was absolutely no question of people being in the building and thorough shoring up should have ensured public safety.

There is some sort of process for group 1 & 2 listed buildings, plus NZHPT registered buildings – a cursory sort of report by the heritage planners (they are so overwhelmed that the reports are completely perfunctory) – and a report from the NZHPT and/or council engineer, but the Civil Defence Controller has the final say.

I am not sure that NZHPT is fighting too hard anyway from what I can gather – because people have been killed (mainly in modern buildings) they seem to have taken the view that they can’t push hard for heritage.

If the owner can be identified (not always easy) they might be given 24 hours notice so have a chance to argue for a delay. If buildings are unlisted and simply make an important contribution to the character of a precinct, no process is required at all. Nothing at all can be done to try and avert demolition.

There seems to have been some agreement made between Civil Defence and the council staff involved with Civil Defence, that no cordons to protect the public from buildings needing repair will be put in place if they would encroach into a road – as long as they take that view not much will be saved.

As a result of tonight’s meeting a delegation of heritage advocates and business people are going to try and meet the Civil Defence Controller tomorrow to urge a slow down, but whether they will even be granted an appointment is far from certain.

We are meeting again on Friday to plan our next steps, especially if the appeal to the Controller fails to have any impact. The scary thing is the Government can just keep on extending the state of emergency.

{Letter received by What if? on Tuesday, 8 March 2011 11.24pm. Names removed to protect identities. -Eds}

(9.00am) What if? learned the group has been granted a meeting today with the Civil Defence Controller.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Letter from Christchurch – it’s bad

WHAT DO RED STICKERS MEAN NOW?

Just had a long and rather unpleasant shake as I began to write. I am not certain how many demolitions have taken place with independent engineering advice that the buildings are OK. I know of one definite case in Lyttelton and we had a very close call with the Tunnel building. Transit had the diggers in place ready to demolish. A tenant alerted a friend who got on to NZHPT who actually got their engineer onto the case promptly. He said the damage was minor and Transit backed down (probably because they have a memo of understanding with NZHPT).

In the CBD owners have of course been unable to get independent experts in but decisions are being made to demolish simply because buildings have been red-stickered. The red sticker means they are unsafe to enter as it stands – it should not mean automatic demolition. It involves no judgement as to whether the building could be restored if appropriate shoring up took place. At present owners are being given 24 hours notice that a building is going to be demolished with little possibility of influencing the decision and no chance to recover possessions.

I will try to get more details on the process or lack of it at a meeting I am going to tomorrow. We have received calls from a number of distressed owners who have valuable property in buildings which they believe can be restored but who fear that they will lose both building and contents without being able to do anything about it.

The general approach seems to be that any reasonably undamaged buildings in a block are just a nuisance and will slow down the process of clearance – that it is more efficient to clear out everything (this is the view of somebody working hard to prevent listed buildings from being demolished).

Another reason behind the demolition of red-stickered buildings is that the demolition companies apparently get the materials and contents as salvage – so we have been informed by an antique shop owner who defied the red stickers (in a suburban area) in order to recover stock ahead of the demolition crews.

I will try to get more details to you tomorrow, it is clear that there are owners who want to restore their buildings but are simply being told they have to come down and that is that.

{Names removed, letter received by What if? on Tuesday 12.07am. -Eds}

“DEMOLITION CREWS, THEY’RE WORSE THAN THE LOOTERS.”

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Owner of Dragon Café/Barron Building has lodged an application to demolish

The owner of 175 Rattray St is listed as Anchorage Properties Ltd, according to DCC rates information. The NZ Companies Office gives the directors of the company as Lincoln Darling and Christina Murphy.

Related Posts:

12.1.11 Demo by neglect? Save the facade?
13.1.11 Banks, Barron & Co Building Collapse pics
13.1.11 Barron Building and Rattray Street
22.1.11 SAVE Dragon Café / Barron Building – Sign the Online Petition
26.1.11 D Scene: Honour heritage

The Save Dunedin’s historic Dragon Café / Barron’s Building online petition is ACTIVE http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42203.html

Images ©2011 Elizabeth Kerr

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Hurt inside #maltexo

. . . not a lot left to say

there are none

have a look then

standing for how long

out the way you came

Maltexo was photographed on 29 January 2011 [488 frames] by Elizabeth Kerr

Related Posts and Comments:
25.4.11 Another outrage of trite ill-informed force of change: Maltexo, Ward St
27.1.11 Good-bye to MALTEXO, Ward Street – Dunedin Harbourside

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Good-bye to MALTEXO, Ward Street – Dunedin Harbourside

Dunedin City Council granted consent to demolish the old Maltexo factory buildings in Ward Street last year. The application was made and granted in November 2010.
There is no District Plan protection on the buildings. The buildings are not in a District Plan listed heritage or townscape precinct.
Doug Hall via his company Anzide Properties Ltd is the owner of the historic property. Mr Hall is well within his rights to pull the buildings down.
Demolition has begun.

Image ©2010 David Murray

About Maltexo http://www.maltexo.co.nz/about.htm
Maltexo history http://www.maltexo.co.nz/history.htm

In 2002 Dunedin City Council asked me to survey the wider harbourside for significant heritage items, I asked Michael Findlay along to help.
Maltexo was on the resulting list we provided to DCC’s then General Manager of Strategy and Development, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Chalmers Property Ltd, Octa Associates and the three urban designers (one a former urban design lecturer of mine) that CPL had brought in on a limited competition basis to produce ideas for the harbourside redevelopment, way before the (troublesome) proposed Dunedin Harbourside plan change got wheels, er prior to them falling off…
So thanks DCC, thanks a bunch. Thanks too for not discussing the application across your departments.

█ Did we learn anything, people.

Related Posts and Comments:
25.4.11 Another outrage of trite ill-informed force of change: Maltexo, Ward St
6.2.11 Hurt Inside [photographs]

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Maltexo (2002) – B/W’s by EJ Kerr scanned from copy documents

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Goodbye to great store buildings in Parry St

Which ones, you ask???

We’re told that the Shaw Savill store is due for demolition in September this year, to make way for the realignment of SH88 around the stadium.

Shaw Savill & Albion Co Wool Store - Parry Street c.1960 [The Fletcher Trust Archive] thumbnailThumbnail: Shaw Savill & Albion Co Wool Store, Parry Street. The Fletcher Trust Archive.

Photo: http://www.fclarchives.co.nz/item.php?id=30060

We hear “they might retain a wall or some other remnant among the landscaping, so maybe this at least could be encouraged”.

“The brick building next door by architect Henry McDowell Smith for Fletchers looks as though it will stay, although it has been vacated by Downer Engineering in the past week, so there is some uncertainty regarding its future.”

Fletcher Holdings Offices, Parry Street c.1950 [The Fletcher Trust Archive] thumbnailThumbnail: Fletcher Holdings Offices, Parry Street. The Fletcher Trust Archive.

Photo: http://www.fclarchives.co.nz/item.php?id=33710

In my submission to the proposed Notice of Requirement [‘for a designation’] for the proposed realignment of SH88, heard at the same time as the Stadium Plan Change, I successfully sought that historic heritage should be recorded and photographed prior to any demolition and copies of the information lodged with Hocken Collections and NZHPT. The hearing commissioners made this a condition of the NoR.

Is DCC taking care to hire the appropriate professional to do this recording work…
This week I start checking with the local authority.

Note:
By legal definition, just because a building with heritage values isn’t listed in the Dunedin City District Plan (Schedule 25.1) or registered by New Zealand Historic Places Trust does not mean it isn’t historic heritage.

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Urban regeneration: knowing where potential lies

The past decade has created a flood of carbon copy useless ‘new’ city centres…

### guardian.co.uk Tuesday 29 December 2009 10.13 GMT
2000 to 2009: Reviews of the decade
Regeneration in the noughties
By Tom James
I moved to Sheffield in 2000. Back then, it was a pretty mad place: a post-Blade-Runner-city of soviet-style car parks, motorways through the city centre and pedestrians herded into underpasses. Knackered, empty and full of potential.
Regeneration seemed to offer an opportunity to change all that, to turn the city into something amazing. My friends and I dreamed of old factories full of art and music; of our brutalist heritage restored; of derelict cooling towers turned into Tate Moderns of the north. We realised pretty quickly that this was a little ambitious.
Read more

-Tom James is an urban activist and writer.

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Follow the link above for more Guardian articles on Regeneration, including:

30.12.09 Public space in the noughties by Anna Minton, author of Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the 21st Century City, published by Penguin.
This should have been the decade of public space but, instead, areas are increasing becoming privately owned and controlled.

20.11.09 Politicians must acknowledge the value of volunteering
Don’t pay us lip service, recognise the part we play in regenerating communities, says Brenda Grixti, Manager of Benchill Community Centre in Wythenshawe.

5.8.09 Legacy of the docks
It is time to rethink the London Docklands development as simply a struggle between powerless locals and ‘yuppie’ colonisers, says former resident Michael Collins.

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### localknowledge.mercatus.org Friday, January 1, 2010
Caring Communities: The Role of Nonprofits in Rebuilding the Gulf Coast
By Peter J. Boettke
The idea of “social entrepreneurship”—innovation in the philanthropic sector to fill in the gaps left by both the market sector and the state sector—has become a hot topic in the last decade. People increasingly wonder how nonprofit enterprises and social entrepreneurs can effectively mimic the successes of the market economy in increasing human welfare, choice, and dignity without either the profit-loss system of markets or the democratic and constitutional checks of the public sector.

The face-to-face forces of reputation and community membership not only coordinate highly effective small-scale projects that support those in need, but they provide a sense of community and identity to us all.

This issue of Local Knowledge seeks to pay attention to and increase our understanding of the necessity and vitality of such associations and the work of social entrepreneurs in society, both in normal times and in those that are most trying.
Read more

-Peter J. Boettke is University Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Vice President of Research, Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

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Filed under Architecture, Construction, Design, Economics, Project management, Town planning, Urban design

The piles, again…and the roof

### ODT Online Sat, 8 Aug 2009
Pile-driving progresses according to plan
By David Loughrey

Work driving piles into the ground at the Forsyth Barr Stadium site is going ahead successfully, but the most difficult stage of the project, lifting about 700 tonnes of steel roof trusses into place 35m above ground, will be the major challenge of the project.
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### ODT Online Sat, 8 Aug 2009
Hitting the roof considered to be quite a feat
By David Loughrey

Otago rugby players, and visitors to the province, will have a new challenge when they play at the Forsyth Barr Stadium. The lowest part of the stadium’s roof will be 30m high near the edge of the field, and the highest kick mapped during games when the Carisbrook Stadium Trust did its research on the issue was about 29.4m.
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Filed under Architecture, Construction, CST, Design, Economics, Project management, Site, Stadiums