WHO says ‘heritage rules are too restrictive’ —What’s their agenda in the Heritage City

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

St Joseph’s and the Dominican Priory, Smith St [cardcow.com]

‘A new roof for Dunedin’s Dominican Priory, considered one of New Zealand’s most important and at-risk historic buildings, is a big step closer following a $100,000 grant. [The] Dunedin Heritage Fund had committed the money from its 2016-17 budget. The 139-year old priory was built to house the city’s Dominican nuns and provide teaching space for girls. Despite its vast scale and elaborate construction – its floating concrete staircase and double-glazed music room were cutting edge designs in their day – the building received little maintenance over its working life.’ –Gerald Scanlan, Catholic Diocese of Dunedin (ODT)

19.2.16 ODT: Boost for restoration of priory (+ video)
12.5.16 ODT: DCC commits $100,000 to priory restoration
27.6.16 ODT: Priory future gets clean slate

*The Dunedin Heritage Fund is administered by representatives of Dunedin City Council and Heritage New Zealand.

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MORE GOOD NEWS

Dunedin Prison “big-picture project” [dunedinprisontrust.co.nz]

‘The Dunedin Prison Trust has raised about $500,000 to start the first stage of its development programme to return the [old prison] building to its original appearance. […] Last year, the trust lodged a planning application with the Dunedin City Council detailing about $250,000 of restorative work which would return the prison’s exterior to its original 1896 condition. The application included work on the building’s roof and walls, as well as seismic strengthening, work expected to cost another $250,000.’ (ODT)

24.8.16 ODT: Restoration begins on historic prison
2.9.16 ODT: Captive audience for prison project
17.9.16 ODT: Old prison roof being restored

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GOOD NEWS CONTINUES

Dunedin Courthouse [panoramio.com]

‘Refurbishing and strengthening Dunedin’s historic courthouse is expected to cost more than $18 million, according to a building consent approved by the Dunedin City Council. The consent includes detailed designs that council building services manager Neil McLeod says involve some of the most extensive earthquake-strengthening ever undertaken in the city. The plans also show the extent to which the Ministry of Justice plans on returning the building to its former glory.’ (ODT)

10.9.16 ODT: $18m to be spent on court upgrade
29.9.16 ODT: Courthouse restoration set to begin
30.9.16 ODT: Dunedin firm wins courthouse contract

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BAD NEWS

‘The Physio Pool is one of the largest warm water swimming pools in New Zealand and Dunedin’s only therapeutic swimming pool. The temperature is always kept around 35 degrees. We feature wheelchair accessibility, hoist and private changing rooms. The benefits of warm water exercise are tremendous and have an extremely positive impact on the quality of life for all ages. We are open to the public and offer a non-threatening environment for swimming, aqua jogging, individual exercise programmes, or warm water relaxation.’ —physiopool.org.nz

### ODT Online Sat, 1 Oct 2016
Pool heritage status opposed
By Vaughan Elder
The Southern District Health Board is fighting a proposal to classify  Dunedin’s already endangered physio pool site as a heritage building, saying it may have to be demolished as part of a hospital redevelopment. This comes as the Property Council and the University of Otago are set to argue at next week’s  Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) hearings that proposed rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings are too restrictive.
Read more

█ Heritage New Zealand | Otago Therapeutic Pool List No. 7581
Historical information and Heritage significance at http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details?id=7581

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FURTHER BAD NEWS AND PILLOCKS

Criticism of the [second generation district] plan comes after praise in recent times for the council for its proactive approach towards saving the city’s heritage buildings.

### ODT Online Sun, 2 Oct 2016
Heritage rules deemed too restrictive
By Vaughan Elder
The Dunedin City Council’s proposed new heritage rules are too restrictive and property owners should have more freedom to demolish uneconomic heritage buildings, the Property Council says. This comes as Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) commissioners are set to hear arguments next week about a new set of rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings. The University of Otago is also among submitters to have expressed concern about rules,  planner and policy adviser Murray Brass saying they had the potential to  reduce protection by making it more difficult to maintain and use heritage buildings.
A summary on the 2GP website said the changes included addressing the threat of “demolition by neglect” by making it easier to put old buildings to new uses and requiring resource consent for most changes to identified heritage buildings and “character-contributing” buildings within defined heritage precincts.
The new rules have prompted a strong response.
Read more

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FOR HISTORIC HERITAGE

Second Generation District Plan (2GP) – Heritage
Read all Heritage topic documents including reports, evidence and submissions to date at: https://2gp.dunedin.govt.nz/2gp/hearings-schedule/heritage.html

Documents
● Notice of Hearing
● Agenda
● Speaking Schedule – updated 29 September

Council Evidence
● Section 42A report
● Section 42A report addendum

DCC expert evidence
● Statement of evidence of Glen Hazelton [Policy planner – heritage]

█ Download: s42a Heritage Report with appendices (PDF, 5 MB)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Carisbrook turnstile building, Neville St | HNZ Category 1 historic place
[filmcameraworkshop.com]

Dunedin Heritage Fund: Latest funding round | recipient building projects

### ODT Online Tue, 20 Oct 2015
Heritage fund contributes to renaissance
By Craig Borley
Another collection of old Dunedin buildings is to get a council cash injection as the city continues its renaissance. The 10 buildings received a combined $113,500 at this month’s meeting of the Dunedin City Council’s heritage fund committee.
Read more + Images

The grants
• Kelsey Yaralla Kindergarten, Trent Ave, North Dunedin: $5000 (earthquake strengthening)
• Golden Leaf International, 16 Manse St: $10,000 (earthquake strengthening)
• Empire Hotel, 395 Princes St: $5500 (earthquake strengthening report, prior to facade restoration)
• Gresham Hotel, 42 Queens Gardens: $20,000 (exterior restoration)
• Former stables, 218 Crawford St – $20,000 (reuse)
• Stafford House, 2 Stafford St – $5000 (fire upgrade)
• Loan and Mercantile Building, 33 Thomas Burns St – $20,000 (facade cleaning and restoration)
• Married quarters, Quarantine Island: $3000 (strengthening)
• Glenfalloch: $5000 (conservation plan update)
• Carpet Court, 115 Cumberland St: $20,000 (reuse)

TOTAL: $113,500

DUNEDIN HERITAGE FUND

The Dunedin City Council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) jointly administer the Dunedin Heritage Fund to support the protection and conservation of Dunedin’s built heritage, as well as the continued use and appreciation of these places by the community.

The Heritage Fund Committee has the ability to make grants or loans to the owner or occupier of any historic place within Dunedin for the purpose of assisting that owner or occupier to manage, maintain or preserve that historic place.

The Dunedin Heritage Fund can provide incentive funding for a wide range of works. These include:

i. Essential repairs, stabilisation or core structural works.
ii. Restoration projects.
iii. Upgrades to code/regulation standards to enable contemporary use of heritage places, eg fire, earthquake, access provisions.
iv. Specific “like with like” material replacement/maintenance projects that protect the integrity of heritage buildings (eg slate or timber shingle roofing; copper gutters/downpipes; wooden joinery; stained glass; stonework; pressed tin ceilings; etc)
v. Preparation of heritage conservation plans.
vi. Emergency or protective works to protect heritage fabric.

Note: Routine maintenance will not normally be a high priority for assistance.

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█ For more information and guidelines for how to apply, go to:
Dunedin Heritage Funding Application (DCC website)

Contacts:
Glen Hazelton, DCC Policy Planner (Heritage) 03 477 4000
Jonathan Howard, HNZ Otago Southland Area Manager 03 477 9871

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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.

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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:

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.

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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

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Heritage New Zealand

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) – and now trading as Heritage New Zealand – is New Zealand’s leading national historic heritage agency and guardian of Aotearoa New Zealand’s national heritage. The environment in which NZHPT operates continues to be characterised by a growing interest in heritage, recognition of its social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits, and awareness of its importance to national identity.

The NZHPT was established by an Act of Parliament in 1954. The NZHPT is established as an autonomous Crown Entity under the Crown Entities Act 2004, and is supported by the Government and funded via Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage through the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Its work, powers and functions are prescribed by the Historic Places Act 1993.

█ Heritage New Zealand – a change of name
In 2010, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage led a review of the Historic Places Act 1993 (HPA) and as a result of that work the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill was drafted and is currently before the House. It is currently awaiting the committee stage, and its third reading. The Bill includes provisions that will result in some changes to how the NZHPT operates, and to archaeological provisions of the HPA. It also proposes a change in name to Heritage New Zealand. The Bill will complete NZHPT’s transition from NGO to Crown Entity. To facilitate the transition, the decision was made to proceed with the name change ahead of the legislation. From 14 April 2014, the organisation has been known as Heritage New Zealand.

HeritageNewZealand 13 Apr 2014

Welcome to Heritage New Zealand
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) has changed its name to Heritage New Zealand. Chief Executive Bruce Chapman explains the reasons behind the change.

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Heritage New Zealand will continue to work in partnership with others, including iwi and hapū Māori, local and central government agencies, heritage NGOs, property owners, and volunteers. We will continue to provide advice to both central and local government, and property owners on the conservation of New Zealand’s most significant heritage sites. We will continue to maintain the national Register of historic places, manage 48 nationally significant heritage properties, regulate the modification of archaeological sites, and manage the national heritage preservation incentive fund.

While Heritage New Zealand receives 80% of its funding from the Crown, like many other Crown agencies it continues to be dependent for the remainder of funding from supporters, donations, grants, bequests, and through revenue generated at the heritage properties it cares for around the country.

Three key things remain the same under the new name:
● commitment to the long-term conservation of New Zealand’s most significant heritage places, including own role as custodian of 48 historic properties
● connection through members (membership benefits are unchanged) and supporters to the wider community
● continued status as a donee organisation, dependent on the goodwill and ongoing financial and volunteer support of the wider community for many of the outcomes the organisation achieves for heritage.

www.heritage.org.nz

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Otago Museum: H D Skinner Annex + returning exhibition!

### ODT Online Sat, 4 Jan 2014
Museum to keep annex open all year
By John Gibb
Otago Museum is planning to keep its recently redeveloped H D Skinner Annex open to the public throughout the year, to allow increased community use. The recent ‘Heritage Lost and Found: Our Changing Cityscape‘ exhibition, displayed in the Postmaster Gallery at the annex, had been “very well received” by the community. This show, which was developed with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, would now be reinstalled, and, in response to “public demand”, would return to public display from March. Read more

● Otago Museum H D Skinner Annex (building background and facilities)

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Comment at ODT Online:

Lost and found
Submitted by ej kerr on Sat, 04/01/2014 – 11:03am.

The significance of the recently closed exhibition for local residents and city visitors was perhaps, at the time, under-appreciated by the exhibiting parties. Dunedin City has formerly lacked such an insightful, rational and easily grasped interactive exhibition on the historical layers of the built environment – signposting the form and change to our cultural heritage landscape and urban context, for better or worse since early days.

This is a planned city (thank you, surveyor Charles Kettle) – we should always honour Dunedin’s uniqueness and intricate textures representatively and graphically; know the ‘before and afters’, the losses, additions and discoveries; be able to quickly recount how the cityscape has evolved, with just these type visual aids and new evolving IT. ‘Heritage Lost and Found’ exactly captures the spirit of where we are!

It’s great news the exhibition is set to continue – in a broader sense, the exhibition is something to build on and develop into the future as a permanent visitor display worthy of any sensitive location for public education. It can take special refreshes and add-ons as research into the merits and quirks of the architecture (our collective legacy) continues through the work of New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Dunedin City Council, Otago Museum, related city archives and collections, archaeologists, building owners, researchers, and professional architectural historians of the calibre of Peter Entwisle and David Murray. The combined effort, its coordination, contains so much power, potential and publishing opportunity. Boggles the mind, then there’s the overwhelming ‘pasture’ for design excellence to cover the brief…
[ends]

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Former Dunedin North Post Office before work started, photo by Benchill via Wikimedia Commons. (below) Proposed building redevelopment rendered by McCoy and Wixon Architects, 2012.

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Links to earlier stories copied from another thread:

● ODT 11.7.13 Museum annex set for opening [after delays]
The $1.6 million redevelopment of the former Dunedin North post office as an Otago Museum exhibition area is nearing completion, and the first display is expected to open next month. Titled ‘Heritage Lost and Found: Our Changing Cityscape’, the first exhibition to be displayed at the annexe was developed in partnership with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The display would showcase “important aspects of Dunedin’s built heritage that have been demolished or redeveloped”.

● ODT 7.7.13 Work near end on old Post Office
● ODT 18.5.13 Museum’s ‘old post office’ annex nearly ready

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image – opening graphic, view from Museum reserve by Whatifdunedin

Owen Graham, heritage advocate

### ODT Online Sun, 20 Oct 2013
Wins and the odd loss in preservation game
By Rosie Manins

Owen Graham, of Dunedin, counts the preservation of the Athenaeum Library in the Octagon as one of the highlights of his six years as the Otago-Southland area manager for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Longtime heritage advocate Owen Graham hopes his grandchildren will benefit from his work to preserve Otago’s history.
Mr Graham recently ended his six-year tenure as the Otago-Southland area manager for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT).
The Dunedin resident spent about 26 years before that in a similar role for the Department of Conservation, and said going into the corporate industry after more than three decades working for the Government was a refreshing change.
His work to advocate the values of heritage throughout the region was often met with opposition and was not without controversy.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
9.4.13 DCC sells Athenaeum, 23 The Octagon
9.6.12 City Property to compete more obviously in the market…
17.1.12 DCC living beyond its means [all spending and debt not declared]
21.2.11 The proactive heritage development lobby EXISTS in Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: odt.co.nz – Owen Graham, re-imaged by Whatifdunedin

Broadcast Notice: RA Lawson, architect

RNZ National
Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
22 September 2013

9.40 Norman Ledgerwood – Dunedin’s Victorian Architect
Norman Ledgerwood has just published a book about RA Lawson, the architect behind some of the country’s most important historical buildings. Scottish-born Lawson designed the First Presbyterian Church of Otago, Knox Presbyterian Church, Larnach Castle and the Dunedin Municipal Building. In his 28 years working in Dunedin from 1862 onwards, Lawson designed over 250 buildings, and his work also survives in many towns in Otago and Southland.
R.A. Lawson: Victorian Architect of Dunedin, by Norman Ledgerwood, with photography by Graham Warman, is published by the Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand.
http://www.cemeteries.org.nz/

● Norman Ledgerwood ( 17′ 56″ )
Writer who chronicles the career of architect Robert Lawson, the man responsible for much of the historic skyline of Dunedin.
Audio | Downloads: Ogg MP3

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Publication: 25 September 2013.
From the publicity material . . .

Following the discovery of gold in Otago, Dunedin quickly grew to become the largest and richest city in New Zealand. Among the architects who influenced the young city was the Scottish architect, Robert Arthur Lawson.

Lawson became more than a leading architect of the day, he was deeply involved in the management and affairs of his beloved Presbyterian Church. Over a short period Lawson played a major role in the growth of Dunedin — taking it from a small township to a city of remarkable and enduring Victorian architecture.

Lawson’s most significant works — First Presbyterian Church of Otago, Knox Presbyterian Church, Larnach Castle, Otago Boys’ High School, Dunedin Municipal Building — take their place amongst the country’s most important historical buildings and grace Dunedin to this day, giving the city its distinctive
character, unique among New Zealand’s towns and cities.

In R.A.Lawson Norman Ledgerwood celebrates the life and career of Lawson, and Graham Warman’s photographs offer an elegant tour of the living legacy of Lawson’s most prominent buildings.

This handsome volume is printed on fine art paper and is richly illustrated throughout with historical and contemporary photographs, as well as many of Lawson’s architectural drawings.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Archaeological site: Castle Street

### ch9.co.nz August 8, 2013 – 6:58pm
Slice of history comes to light
A slice of Dunedin’s past came to surface today outside the city’s historic railway station.
Video

Ch39 – nineteenth century footpath edging or water channel unearthed in Castle Street [screenshots]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Heritage: Old BNZ, Dunedin —restored

Work on the historic bank included strengthening the structure from 67% of building code requirements to 100% and installing a full fire sprinkler system.

205 Princes St – Old BNZ c.1888 (photo by FA Coxhead re-imaged)

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With Silver Fern [Farms] also moving into the old chief post office, it will give the Exchange momentum. The shops will do better and it will give the whole area more impetus. –Michael van Aart

### ODT Online Sat, 27 Jul 2013
Refurbished bank building ready for law firm
By Nigel Benson
Dunedin’s former commercial heart – the Exchange – will pulsate with new life next week. With scaffolding removed and tradesmen gone, the 130-year-old Bank of New Zealand building in Princes St will become the new home to commercial law firm Van Aart Sycamore Lawyers on Wednesday. The occupation of the building, which is considered architect William Barnett Armson’s (1834-1883) masterpiece, follows an 18-month restoration project.
“We’re really looking forward to moving in,” firm director Michael van Aart said yesterday. “The building is dramatic and one of a kind. We have to celebrate the unique features we have here in Dunedin and heritage is certainly one of them. The Exchange was the heart of New Zealand’s economy when it was built.”
The building had been untenanted for the past 13 years. Van Aart Sycamore Lawyers had been based in Radio House for the past six years and the move would be good for the Exchange, Mr van Aart believed.
Read more

Armson drawing no. 10, Princes St facade with secondary doorway

Readings:
New Zealand Historic Places Trust – Category 1 Historic Place
(No. 7299) Registration Report – the history and significance

[wikipedia] Princes Street, Dunedin
[wikipedia] Bank of New Zealand

Book: John Barsby, The BNZ Building, Princes Street Dunedin (Southern Heritage Trust, 2011)

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Related Post and Comments:
26.2.13 Bank of New Zealand Building, 205 Princes St (cnr Rattray)
[more images]

The banking desk designed by architect Robert A Lawson is held by Otago Settlers Museum; and an original ornamental fire surround from the bank is installed at Antrim House (NZHPT National Office) in Wellington (photographs in Barsby). It is thought one more fire surround went to another Wellington residence.

RA Lawson, Drawing for write-up desk, Old BNZ

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

University: Leith flood protection scheme and landscaping

Proposed landscaping within the university’s heritage precinct. The St David St footbridge will be extended. [graphic via ODT]

### ODT Online Wed, 24 Jul 2013
Registry stretch of Leith set for summer revamp
By Rebecca Fox
The stretch of the Water of Leith in front of the University of Otago’s registry building looks set to get a multimillion-dollar makeover this summer. Students, staff and visitors could soon be able to walk along grassy verges next to lowered banks of the river, from the St David St footbridge to the Union St bridge, if a design plan is approved at an Otago Regional Council committee meeting tomorrow.
It has been about seven years since the council and the university signed an agreement to work together to produce a plan to suit the council’s need for flood protection and the university’s need for an aesthetic look in front of its historic registry building.
The council had budgeted $5.4 million over the next 12 months for the work. The university and the council are each to fund half the cost of the aesthetic work.
Among the work to be endorsed by the committee is the lowering of most of the concrete wall on the east bank, extending the footbridge, cutting down the west bank and landscaping and footpath redevelopment.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
27.5.13 Carisbrook and Leith flood protection
17.11.10 Leith Lindsay Flood Protection Scheme
17.5.10 Campus Master Plan
28.1.10 University of Otago Campus Master Plan

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cities: Organic renewal

St Joseph, Missouri

### Citiwire.net Fri, July 5, 2013
Organic Renewal: St Joe’s Story
By Roberta Brandes Gratz
In the mid- and late 1960s, while many cities and towns were still tearing their hearts out for the false promises of urban renewal, all sorts of people, young and old, saw the beauty, value and promise of gracious living in historic buildings in the places left behind by suburban development. From San Francisco to Louisville to Providence to Brooklyn to St Louis and beyond, urban pioneers stripped, cleaned and restored the irreplaceable artifacts of bygone eras of quality and taste.
Those pioneers were the vanguard of the regeneration of neighbourhoods and cities that, today, many people do not remember were considered a blighted lost cause. Washington’s Georgetown. Park Slope in Brooklyn. King William in San Antonio. The Garden District in New Orleans. The Victorian Districts of San Francisco and Savannah. Who remembers that those neighbourhoods were once considered “blighted,” over, finished?

Surely, this is the most compelling storyline of the second half of the last century. The rebirth of today’s thriving cities started with the rediscovery of yesterday’s discards. That, as they say, is history. But history has a funny way of repeating itself. Today, one finds examples of that organic renewal process re-emerging.

Many cities have lost more than what remains of the authentic architecture on which to build a new momentum. Miraculously, one that survives with an amazing rich legacy to work with is St Joseph, Mo.
Set on a bend in the Missouri River and almost equidistant from Kansas City and Omaha, St Joseph was a railroad, lumber and banking centre and, most importantly, the last full provisioning point for the Westward Expansion in the mid-nineteenth century. It’s the birthplace of the Pony Express, the site of Jesse James’ demise, home of Stetson Hat, Saltine crackers and Aunt Jemima.
St Joseph is still home to a diverse assortment of agriculture-related industry. The past and present combine to offer new opportunities, and a small but growing group of adventurous entrepreneurs appear to be present to lead the way, like the urban pioneers of 50 years ago.
Read more

● Roberta Brandes Gratz is an urban critic and author of The Battle For Gotham: New York In the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, 2010, Nation Books.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Grants Scheme for Central City Heritage Buildings

This item was published on 05 Jul 2013.

The DCC now has $90,000 available in grants for heritage building re-use projects in Princes Street and areas adjoining the Warehouse Precinct. Like the Warehouse Precinct scheme, this new grant scheme is focused on a specific geographic area to facilitate and expand the regeneration occurring there already. There has been good success with targeted incentive schemes in the Warehouse Precinct. Expanding into the areas around it recognises that the precinct is not an island, but is integrated with the areas around in and with the central city as a whole.

There is already some great work stirring regeneration in the area and it is important we are also poised to assist and encourage others to participate in this regeneration of the area south of the Octagon.

Applications can be made for support for a range of activities, from earthquake strengthening and facade restoration to assistance for businesses and creative industries in the area. The scheme allows building owners to build on the growing positive private sector re-use and investment in the area, such as the Chief Post Office, former BNZ and Standard Building restoration projects already or soon to be underway.

The scheme is supported by Resene Paints which is offering discounts on paint and free colour advice. Resene Otago Trade Representative Henry Van Turnhout says, “We are proud to be offering our support to another DCC area-based project, as we have for King Edward St and the Warehouse Precinct. We are also offering free assistance with colour selection as we recognise how greatly appropriate colour choice can influence the way a building – and an area – looks.”

Taking an area-based approach to regeneration and incentives encourages businesses and building owners to work together and to recognise the benefits for the entire area of re-using or improving their building.

Applications are open immediately, on a first come first served basis. Application forms will be sent to building owners, residents and businesses owners in the next week and are at www.dunedin.govt.nz/heritage

Last year’s Warehouse Precinct grants scheme supported 11 re-use projects in the area. Information about these is available at here.

Contact Glen Hazelton, DCC Policy Planner on 477 4000.

DCC Link
ODT: DCC boost for Princes St regeneration

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Dunedin. In future years, the council plans to use this approach in other parts of the central city and beyond.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (from top) commons.wikimedia.org Tim Kiser – St Joseph, Missouri (2006): Buchanan County Courthouse, Downtown cnr Francis St and North 4th St, Downtown viewed from the east near cnr 10th and Charles. Dunedin: South Princes St (2007 watercolour by Elizabeth Gorden-Werner), former Gresham Hotel at Queens Gardens, Speight’s (Lion Breweries) on Rattray St; commons.wikimedia.org Benchill – Dunedin Central Fire Station, Castle St.

Ian Athfield at Dunedin | Open Lecture Friday 26 April

New Zealand Historic Places Trust RA Lawson Lecture

Ian Athfield — “Heritage Starts with a Great Idea Tomorrow”
Thoughts on community and heritage

New Zealand Historic Places Trust and New Zealand Institute of Architects – Southern Branch are co-sponsoring the public talk by one of New Zealand’s most well-known architects, Ian Athfield

Panel on stage – Lawrie Forbes (property developer), Glen Hazelton (DCC urban design), Elizabeth Kerr (architecture advocate), Stephen Macknight (structural engineer)

When: Friday 26 April 2013 at 7:30 pm

Where: University of Otago, St David Lecture Theatre
Union Street East, Dunedin

All welcome

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Ian Athfield is a prominent New Zealand architect who over his 40+ year career has contributed significantly to the built environment of New Zealand. He has a strong interest in urban design, landscape and the continuing craft of architecture with an emphasis on building off the existing physical environment.

While first establishing a reputation through innovative housing, Athfield is renowned for his big picture thinking in both urban and rural environments. He has been involved in the creation of many of New Zealand’s most successful urban spaces, landscapes, and buildings. His work continues to stretch across all scales from furniture and public sculpture to architecture, landscape, and urban design; and across type from domestic to civic.

Athfield’s contribution to architecture has received widespread recognition and not only earned his practice numerous design awards but earned him the 2004 NZIA Gold Medal, an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Victoria University and in 1996 the New Zealand Government made him a Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Ian Athfield is currently serving on the Board of The New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and as a member of the NZHPT Maori Heritage Council.

http://www.athfieldarchitects.co.nz/

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Related Posts:
3.3.13 RNZ Sunday Morning | Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
25.6.12 New Zealand Architects: Pete Bossley, and Ian and Claire Athfield
7.12.11 Ian Athfield on post-earthquake Christchurch #eqnz
19.9.11 NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*fashionable* Heritage Dunedin and the RMA holocaust

Council-owned Dunedin Railway Station

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### ODT Online Sun, 21 Apr 2013
Council says heritage buildings under threat
By Chris Morris
Important heritage buildings in Dunedin could be lost if proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) are confirmed, the Dunedin City Council says. The council’s concerns about historic architectural losses were articulated in a submission to the Ministry for the Environment, in response to a raft of proposed RMA changes recently unveiled by Environment Minister Amy Adams.
Proposed changes included the Resource Reform Management Bill, introduced last December, which was before a select committee and had closed a call for public submissions. Among the proposals was the removal of a reference to the ”protection of” historic heritage, which would be replaced with wording requiring recognition of, and provision for, ”the importance and value” of historic heritage.

”Important heritage buildings valued by the community could be lost when insignificant weight is given both to the importance of heritage to Dunedin’s residents, and to the growing significance of the city’s buildings on a national and international level, following the losses in Christchurch.”

Councillors have already been warned uncertainty over key new phrases proposed for the RMA might need to be tested in the courts, and the council’s submission warned the change ”diminishes the importance of historic heritage”.
Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 21/04/2013
City wears its history with pride
By Rosemary McLeod
How can Dunedin fashion have a reputation for Gothic gloom, when early autumn showcases clear skies and a harbour like pale-blue glass and unexpected sunshine roasts me in my pessimistic woollies? The city has turned on idyllic weather for iD Dunedin Fashion Week, from March 10 to 17.
With barely a whisper of wind, reddening leaves dangle in the city’s parks and gardens as if by spider threads, viburnums are a mass of clear red berries, and the hillside of 19th-century stone and brick houses overlooking town declares a rooted solidity among greenery, even if we have all become nervous of such buildings because of what happened in that other city.

Since havoc was wreaked on Christchurch, Dunedin could seem more remote than ever, an add-on at the bottom of that big island, but it has always had its own distinct character and its old buildings are integral to that.

Before Auckland, this was where money was, and lots of it. It was the financial and population hub of the country and it was built to last long before nonsense like leaky homes. Dunedin is what Auckland isn’t.

Protecting Dunedin’s design heritage

If I had my way, it would have a vast dome over it, keeping it like this for posterity, because we have nothing else like it and will never create it again.

I could go on about the past, because it’s all around you in Dunedin, a city with a main street still at its heart, where you can still do your shopping instead of driving to suburban malls, where the local privately owned newspaper seems untouched by media challenges elsewhere and where I’ve trawled the second-hand shops over the years and made great discoveries.

Where populations stay put, so does their stuff. You dig here for a different kind of gold than the prospectors, who brought wealth here 150-odd years ago, but in its own way it’s just as exciting.

There are two museums and one public art gallery, all thriving, for a population of about 120,000. Independent retailers still exist on the main street. There are no vulgar high-rise buildings, although a developer desperately wants to build a 40-storeyed hotel. Yet in the midst of its rather smug history, Dunedin is held together not by the past but the future. Education is its core business.

Like a wise old parent, it puts up with the antics of the students so vital to its economy, stopping short of hysterics when they really put tolerance to the test, which is why, as its Fashion Week shows, Dunedin isn’t fusty.
Read more

● Rosemary McLeod was hosted by Tourism Dunedin.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Images: Dunedin Railway Station via nakedbus.com (top), craiglawson.net (middle), seenindunedin.co.nz (bottom); Rosemary McLeod via bayofplentytimes.co.nz

Prof Claudio Modena | Open Lecture Wednesday 1 May

New Zealand Historic Places Trust and New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering public talk

Professor Claudio Modena — “Retrofit of stone masonry buildings”
Italian research and practice

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) and the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) present a public talk by Italian earthquake engineering academic and consultant, Professor Claudio Modena.

When: Wednesday 1 May 2013 at 5:30 pm

Where: University of Otago, Quad 2 Lecture Theatre
1st floor Geology Building, Dunedin

All welcome

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Claudio Modena is a Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Padova, Italy (1994–). He has presented the course of “Structural Problems of Monumental Historical Heritage” in Architectural and Building Engineering and is Director of the Masters course in ‘Structural Restoration of Historic Monuments and Buildings’.

Author of over 200 papers in international journals and attendances at conferences, Claudio Modena is interested in analysis and design of construction, with particular attention on:
– masonry of historical and monumental structures
– strengthening/retrofitting in seismic areas
– retrofitting of metal and masonry arch bridges, and
– safety evaluations.

The professor has maintained a balance between academic and practical experience, combining with mutual benefit both research work and technical consulting. Most of his consulting activity is in the field of restoration and conservation of historic masonry structures.

Claudio Modena is a member of several technical and scientific committees: Cultural Heritage Ministry, Protection of Cultural Heritage from Seismic Hazard Committee. He is currently a member of the High Risks Committee – Seismic Risk Sector of the national Civil Protection Agency and of the special committee established by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Public Works for re-drafting the national codes system related to structural safety of both new and existing structures.

Visit this website for more information about the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Inc www.nzsee.org.nz

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC sells Athenaeum, 23 The Octagon

Image: ODT Files

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Historic Athenaeum Building Sold

This item was published on 08 Apr 2013.

The Octagon Athenaeum has been sold in an agreement which provides an opportunity to meet community needs and protect the building’s historic features.

The Dunedin City Council agreed today to accept an offer from Lawrie Forbes, for a purchase price of $900,000. The offer is unconditional, with settlement on 1 May.

Mr Forbes has developed a number of historic buildings in Dunedin and was awarded the 2012 Dunedin City Council Supreme Award for Heritage Re-Use. Mr Forbes plans to earthquake strengthen the building using his company Zeal Steel and develop part of the building for an arts and culture use.

Mr Forbes also plans to place a restrictive covenant on the property title to ensure the heritage elements of the interior and exterior of the building are retained. The covenant is to be agreed between Mr Forbes and the [New Zealand] Historic Places Trust. If agreement cannot be reached on the wording of a suitable covenant within two years, this condition lapses.

Image: ODT Files

Following a December 2012 Council meeting, Colliers International were appointed as agents for the sale of the Athenaeum. A deadline treaty process began in January this year and four offers were received, ranging from $500,000 to $900,000.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says while Mr Forbes’ offer was the highest, the Council also took into account his plans to meet community needs by protecting the heritage of the building with a covenant and work closely with the arts and cultural sector.

“What makes Lawrie Forbes’ offer so attractive is the strategic alignment it has with the overall vision for the city. It is very much in line with the outcomes envisaged by the Central City Strategy, the Heritage Strategy and Arts and Culture Strategy which is being developed.”

In October 2007, the DCC bought the Athenaeum for $1,130,000, with the possibility of using the building in a large theatre development. The development did not proceed and so the decision was made to sell the property.

The purchase price will leave the DCC with an estimated debt of $100,565, which is unbudgeted and must be repaid in the current financial year. The total cost of owning the building (from 2007 to 2013), once the sale is completed, is $502,302.

On average the holding costs have been $74,000 a year and the sale means the DCC no longer has these ongoing costs, nor the risks associated with owning the property.

● Athenaeum Report (PDF, 4.0 MB)
● Athenaeum minutes extract (PDF, 115 KB)

Contact the Mayor of Dunedin on 477 4000.

DCC Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin Heritage Re-use Awards

The winners of Dunedin’s annual Heritage Re-use Awards were announced last night at a ceremony at Wall Street.

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
20 Mar 2013

Dunedin Heritage Re-use Award Winners Announced

The overall winner this year was the NMA building in Water Street, Dunedin, which also won the interiors section for the Psychology Associates Offices.

This is the third year of the awards, which celebrate excellence, innovation and sensitivity in the re-use of heritage buildings in Dunedin and include categories for earthquake strengthening, interiors and overall re-use. A student design competition is also held during the year, which challenges students to develop innovative solutions to the re-use of Dunedin’s older buildings. The awards and competition are an initiative of the Dunedin Heritage Buildings Re-use Steering Group.

The awards are judged by a panel including Dunedin City Councillors, representatives from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, the local branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects and the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand, and building owners.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull sees the awards “as acknowledging the efforts of those who strive to maintain and enhance the unique heritage character of Dunedin”.

Cr Lee Vandervis, who headed the building judging panel, says both of the two main winners – the NMA Building and Knox College – “showed remarkably imaginative and cost-effective solutions to earthquake strengthening while retaining all practicable heritage features.

“The NMA building has been turned from a unused liability into a delightfully revealed cornerstone of Dunedin history with superb creation of character spaces ideal for its new tenants. Knox College has been a large extraordinary earthquake strengthening project shoe-horned into the tightest of time frames without compromising heritage features and still managing to maintain a very sensitive level of attention to detail.”

Cr Jinty MacTavish says the two winning entries in the student design competition “demonstrated a clear commitment to retaining and showcasing key heritage features, while at the same time addressing the practical needs of well-defined anchor tenants.”

Judges in this category were for a second year running impressed with the work of Peter Rozecki-Lewis, who also took out the top honours in this category in 2012.

Nominations for next year’s awards can be made any time before 20 December. Further details are available at www.dunedin.govt.nz/heritage

WINNERS

Oakwood Properties Earthquake Strengthening Award
Sean O’Neill – Hanlon and Partners for Knox College

Barlow Justice/New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage Interiors Award
Psychology Associates Offices, NMA Building

Dunedin Heritage Re-use Award
NMA Building, Water Street

Dunedin Heritage Re-use Design Competition
Individual winner: Peter Rozecki-Lewis
Team winner: Laura Hughes and Campbell McNeill

Highly Commended:
Dunedin Heritage Re-use Award
Otago Settlers Museum

Contact Policy Planner (Heritage) on 477 4000.

DCC Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Earthquake-proof your home

Expert Talk with Win Clark

Join Structural Engineer Win Clark to learn how to stabilise your home against the effects of earthquakes. Discover whether structural strengthening is required on all buildings and how this can be achieved.

Thursday 21 March
Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum
5.30pm
FREE!

Link to Poster

Part of the Canterbury Quakes exhibition — Otago Museum

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

RMA Bill: Public meeting 21 March

INVITATION TO MEETING — ALL WELCOME

UPDATED POST 20.3.13 at 7:14pm

Received.

—– Original Message —–
From: Jocelyn Harris
To: Ann Barsby ; Elizabeth Kerr ; Judith Medlicott
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 9:56 AM
Subject: RMA Bill

Dear Ann, Elizabeth and Judith

The proposed revisions to the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) allow for the setting up of a central commission to over-ride environment court and local council decisions. That includes decisions about heritage.

On Thursday 21 March 2013 at 7pm in the Burns Hall, a quickly assembled group of people will hold a public meeting to discuss our concerns and encourage submissions on the revised RMA and reforms to water management.

As the submission date is 2 April that doesn’t give us much time.

I would be grateful if you could alert your networks to the provisions in the proposed Bill as they affect heritage.

Best wishes
Jocelyn

Professor emerita Jocelyn Harris
Co-chair, Sustainable Dunedin City Inc

[ends]

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Resource Management — Reform Bill [2012]
Government Bill 93—1
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2012/0093/latest/whole.html

Click on the link, type “heritage” in the Search box at the top of the webpage.

Download: RMAFlyer_10 (PDF, 1.77 MB)

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What ORC is thinking… (page 9)

ODT Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Bank of New Zealand Building, 205 Princes St (cnr Rattray)

BNZ Bank, The Exchange 1976

### ODT Online Tue, 26 Feb 2013
New lease of life for BNZ building
By Debbie Porteous
A grand old dame of the Dunedin streetscape is being brought back to life by a Dunedin law firm. The historic Bank of New Zealand Building at the corner of Rattray and Princes Sts, in the Exchange, will, come June, be home to commercial law firm Van Aart Sycamore Lawyers, after the company bought the building and is having it renovated. Firm directors Michael Van Aart and Tony Sycamore said they were looking for permanent premises and the building’s location, natural light and character had appealed. Mr Sycamore said he expected the building would be “a really nice place to work”. The location was also great. Buildings around the Exchange area were filling up with commercial tenants, in what was historically the commercial heart of Dunedin. The company’s 14 staff would be based on the first floor, and once they had moved in the firm hoped to find tenants for the other three floors.

The company was strengthening the building from 67% of code to 100%, and installing full fire sprinkler systems throughout, as well as renovating and fitting out new offices, while retaining the heritage features of the building preserved by previous owner Ted Daniels.

The company was working closely with the Dunedin City Council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on the refurbishment.
Read more

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Heritage New Zealand – Category 1 Historic Place
(No. 7299) Registration Report – the history and significance

The Bank of New Zealand Building was designed and constructed over the period 1877-1883. The architect, William Barnett Armson, was one of the first colonially-trained architects to work in New Zealand. He trained at Melbourne in architecture, engineering and surveying, and returned to New Zealand in 1862. The building is considered to be the architect’s masterpiece, and New Zealand’s finest surviving nineteenth century bank.

Interior, before alterations circa 1960. Campbell Photography, Dunedin

The bank is elsewhere described as one of the few New Zealand buildings to reflect the large scale of the sixteenth century Italian palazzo, its prototype. The richly carved exterior features New Zealand plants and landscapes carved by Louis John Godfrey. The interior was extensively modernised by the architects Mandeno and Fraser in 1958 but the superb plaster ceiling over the banking chamber was preserved.

Ceiling, main banking chamber

Related Post:
27.7.13 Heritage: Old BNZ, Dunedin —restored

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: BNZ Archives, Wellington (via Ted Daniels); Athol Parks, citywalks.co.nz

Demolition by neglect. Townscape precincts.

About which, belated (after parapet failure) “buying of engineering opinion” can make sure historic buildings come down for car parks.

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On Friday, Karen Ratten of St Kilda had a letter to the editor published, ‘Why the long delay in demolition?’ (ODT 29.6.12). Ms Ratten is firstly concerned about three car parks being currently unavailable for use outside Brocklebanks Building in King Edward St, South Dunedin. She then asks why the hold up with the building’s demolition?

The question could have been, why is demolition of the listed building required at all (the building has facade protection in the district plan and is located in a listed townscape precinct) – if it’s to create interim on-site parking? Given it was (still is!) possible to tie the building together and restore it, or retain the historic facade and erect a new building behind – thereby removing the public safety issue altogether.

DCC’s Alan Worthington, Resource Consents manager, provides reply including an inference (we’re way past generalities here, Alan) that archaeological authority processes required by New Zealand Historic Places Trust for the building have contributed to delay of demolition. This is not so. He then intimates something more useful, saying: “At the same time there may be other matters the building owner is dealing with.” Bingo. Just maybe, the Brocklebank family trust hasn’t finalised building plans in order to apply for resource consent. Who knew!

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The other site…

### ODT Online Sat, 30 Jun 2012
Buildings’ demise imminent
By Debbie Porteous
Scenic Circle Hotel Group director Stuart McLauchlan confirmed a crane that went up behind the N. & E.S. Paterson Ltd and Barron buildings in Rattray St this week would be bringing the partially demolished buildings down within “days”. Two separate sections of the 136-year-old Barron Building collapsed in January 2011; parapets fell on to the roof causing it to collapse inwards onto the second storey.
Read more

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The Barron Building, originally known as the Banks, Barron & Co. Building, was designed by architect Henry F. Hardy, and constructed circa 1875. The Victorian-era warehouse later received a very fine interior by architect Owen E. MacFie. The first bottling plant for Speights was housed in the basement (still intact) – potentially, a stunning adjunct to Speight’s Alehouse and heritage tours.

According to specialist engineers the Barron Building could have been saved following collapse of the parapet.

Keeping up a building of this scale is not usually prohibitive, cost wise – it does require diligence. It can ‘come down’ to having motivated owners and investors.

Long before parapet failure, Barron Building required conscientious owner-stewards to carry out cyclical maintenance (seeing to weathertightness, gutter cleaning, keeping pigeons out, removing vegetation and trees from mortar, repointing and so on) and regular structural assessment towards enhancing building performance – with all resulting work to be costed and carried out in stages (at its most affordable – given that for many many years Dunedin City Council has practised leniency towards building owners in regards to bringing buildings up to code).

All the people saying pull the old buildings down because they’re “eyesores” (see ODT news report above) and asking why private building owners should be put to the cost of saving old structures like these – the answer, respectfully, is that they need to get out a bit, to see for themselves what’s actually going on in the neighbourhood.

Building owners (good investors), with vision and means, are set on maintaining, strengthening and upgrading their heritage buildings. Their efforts are attracting higher paying tenants; and incrementally/cumulatively they are raising property values in the old CBD. It’s known as “regeneration”. If you’re a building investor who isn’t participating in this upward movement (where’s your diligence?) and your property is going backwards, you need to ask yourself what’s the sense in being left behind? Get educated. Those caring for heritage building stock are starting to make real money now and for the long term. They’ve done their sums, they know what it takes.

A sizeable cluster of Dunedin’s historic buildings in the area have been or are in the process of being strengthened and re-used. They include (no particular order): Old BNZ Bank, Standard Building, Old National Bank, Bing Harris Building, Clarion Building, Bracken Court (Moray Pl), Queens Garden Court, NMA Building (former Union Steam Ship Co, Water St), former Rogan McIndoe Print Building (Crawford St), 14 Dowling St, Garrison Hall (Dowling St), former Stavely Building (cnr Bond and Jetty Sts), Wood Adams Building (19 Bond St), former Chief Post Office, former Donald Reid Store (Vogel St), Milne Brebner Building (Vogel St), 366 Princes St… and more besides.

Again, WHY are we losing the likes of Barron Building, N. & E.S. Paterson Building, and Brocklebanks Building?

If you are a heritage building owner wanting to access available information that could help you conserve, strengthen and save your building, contact Glen Hazelton, DCC Policy Planner (Heritage) phone 4774000 – or Owen Graham, NZHPT Area Manager (Otago Southland) phone 4779871.

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### ODT Online Tue, 7 Sep 2010
Measures urged to protect heritage buildings
By John Gibb
Relatively cheap and simple measures can protect many of Dunedin’s heritage buildings from much of the kind of earthquake damage evident in Christchurch, structural engineer Lou Robinson says.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
8.5.12 Owners of neglected buildings
25.8.11 180 Rattray St, Dunedin: Proposed historic building demolition…
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

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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.

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### 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.

Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

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### 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/

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.

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### 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

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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…

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Earthquake strengthening: voluntary targeted rates scheme

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Jan 2012
New rate to fund strengthening
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council gave approval for a second “targeted rate” system to improve city buildings yesterday when it voted for a scheme to help fund earthquake-strengthening for heritage building owners. That followed a decision on Tuesday to back a similar scheme to fund insulation and clean heating for residential buildings.
Read more

The voluntary targeted rates schemes work by providing finance to ratepayers – in this case to complete earthquake-strengthening – with the cost to be paid off through rates over a specified period.

• There would be about $500,000 available in the first year.
• Applications would be considered by the four city councillors on the Dunedin Heritage Fund, and three New Zealand Historic Places Trust representatives, with a final decision by the council finance, strategy and development committee.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

‘Brocklebank building’, 189-195 King Edward St, South Dunedin

189-195 King Edward St, South Dunedin, owned by the Brocklebank family trust, is listed as item B363 in Schedule 25.1 (Townscape and Heritage Buildings and Structures) of the Dunedin City District Plan. The protection required is the facade to King Edward St.

This is yet another of Dunedin’s historic commercial buildings which, over the years, have suffered from a lack of regular maintenance and repair to maintain structural strength. Thus building safety and performance have been compromised. Despite being tenanted (until recently), the building has been neglected to such an extent the street facade has begun to peel away from the structure behind.

The fact of the building’s listing is reason enough for the resource consent application to be notified by Dunedin City Council. This will give interested parties a chance to comment on the owner’s proposal.

A recent survey of photographic archives suggests the date of build is c.1883, or possibly earlier.

An ideal project for Dunedin Heritage Fund assistance: preserving the facade to King Edward St.

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### ODT Online Mon, 16 Jan 2012
Delays frustrate trust
By Mark Price
The owners of the condemned Brocklebank Drycleaners building in the main street of South Dunedin are frustrated at a five-month wait, so far, for approval to knock down the building. In August, the Dunedin City Council demanded the building be emptied of its tenants and fenced off, because the facade was unsafe.
Read more

Related Post:
13.8.11 Building facade failure: “It’s only the facade at the front that can’t be used”

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In Marc Price’s Saturday magazine feature on South Dunedin it’s interesting to read that historic heritage is being given prominence in the city council’s ‘urban design’ project…
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/194344/south-dunedin-steaming-ahead

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr