Napier City Council is planning to bring forward part of a planned $4.5 million refurbishment of the War Memorial Conference Centre to fast-track required earthquake strengthening of the Marine Parade building.
While an earthquake assessment of the building is still being completed, the council says early indications are that work will need to be done to bring it up to current national building standards.
Chief executive Wayne Jack said while it was not expected the assessment would require the centre to close before the work began with a planned upgrade in the pipeline, it made sense to do both at the same time to lessen the impact.
![Wayne Jack, Napier City Council chief executive.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/DQQUVMXHVJ6YII7O663IN7IKCY.jpg?auth=fe63bddf252fb5d8edc51283e4b36aecd149a453e88f47e7fcbaec80ef00abac&width=16&height=21&quality=70&smart=true)
In its long-term plan, the council is proposing spending $4.5 million over the next 10 years on an upgrade of the conference centre, which has not had a significant upgrade for two decades.