Cost of earthquake strengthening could 'end small towns'

The Dannevirke Gallery of History has been deemed an earthquake risk. Photo / NZME

Regulations created to mitigate earthquake risk could create additional pressure on owners of small town heritage buildings which could see them walk away.

Dannevirke's Gallery of History vice president Murray Holden said many towns like Dannevirke had a lot of heritage buildings but could find the cost of earthquake strengthening too much.

"It could kill small towns," he said.

Owners of such buildings didn't get much in the way of returns and certainly not enough to justify the expense, Holden said.

The committee of the Gallery of History, which was a heritage building, had been told the building, which was once the Dannevirke courthouse, was an earthquake risk.

Tararua District Council has sent letters to owners of some commercial and multi-unit residential buildings advising them of the potential earthquake risk and the steps they needed to take to have the buildings assessed.

Another group of letters would be sent in July.

The museum committee had already contacted engineers to assess the museum and had been told it would cost at least $1 million to undertake earthquake strengthening.

The museum relied on entry fees and only got a small amount of funding from the council.

Holden said while they had 15 years to get the funding together, it wasn't going to be easy.

He said it wasn't just the cost involved as the museum would have to have everything moved to possibly temporary premises for at least a year.

Under the 2016 Building (Earthquake-prone buildings) Amendment Act, councils were required to use Earthquake Prone Building methodology to identify, assess and make decisions on such buildings within their districts.

The legislation was created following the earthquakes in Christchurch in 2011 where in some incidents people were killed by falling masonry.

"It's a knee jerk reaction," Holden said.

He added there was more chance of people being killed on the roads than being hurt or killed in such a manner.

"To expect owners to mitigate that risk is a lot."

Holden said the museum was important to the community.

"For a community to thrive, we need to know our history," he said.

The Bank of New Zealand building is a category one heritage building and any earthquake strengthening required would be costly. Photo / NZME

Dannevirke was also in the unique position of having a number of heritage buildings, including the Charlesworth-designed Bank of New Zealand building, which was a category one heritage building, the Regent and the Masonic Hotel, as well as the museum.

If the building owners could not afford the earthquake strengthening, there was a possibility they could choose to walk away, leaving the buildings empty.