Quake-proofing Hastings to cost $2.7m

The Hastings District Council plans to spend an estimated $2.7 million over the next 13 years strengthening nine earthquake-prone civic buildings, but a councillor says it should consider demolition for green spaces or selling some.

The strengthening is in addition to a potential multimillion-dollar spend-up on two other high-profile council buildings that require quake strengthening: the Hawke's Bay Opera House and the city's crematorium.

The council is yet to decide what to do with the Opera House and the crematorium, but its plans to strengthen the other buildings, which include the Hastings Library and the City Art Gallery, are outlined in recently published documents tied to its long-term plan.

The plan, which is subject to public consultation, sets out the council's spending strategy for the next 10 years.

The bulk of the planned quake-strengthening work will take place between 2025 and 2027, when a total of just over $1.4 million will be spent on strengthening the library and art gallery buildings.

The library met 52 per cent of the new building earthquake code, and the art gallery was 49 per cent.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said there were no safety issues with the two buildings, or the others scheduled for strengthening.

The remedial work is required to bring them up to 67 per cent of code, a figure the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineers recommends as a minimum target for strengthened buildings.

The $2.7 million strengthening works programme could end up being a fraction of what the council spends on repair work for the Opera House.

It plans consultation on options for the 99-year-old facility and adjacent buildings, much of which has been closed for a year. The cost of bringing it to between 70 and 75 per cent of code was estimated at $14.2 million to $17.8 million .

Long-term plan documents say repairing the complex to that level is the "most likely scenario," although other options include strengthening the buildings to different earthquake strengths, reconfiguring or demolition. Mr Yule has previously said the Opera House is an iconic facility much admired by residents and demolition is his least preferred option.

The council has previously said a $20 million budget for "enhancement works" in central Hastings will have to be re-jigged in light of the higher than expected cost of strengthening the Opera House.

The $20 million was initially intended to cover the Opera House earthquake-strengthening work, the redevelopment of Civic Square and the development of a central city hotel.

The division of spending on the three projects "will have to be revisited," the long-term plan documents said.

Long-term plan consultation is expected to take place during the latter part of this year.

Spending on the crematorium is undecided. Its chapel was closed in 2012 when it received a 29 per cent quake-code rating. It was reopened in 2013 after remedial work but the complex still requires further strengthening along with a general upgrade, or a complete rebuild at a cost of about $800,000.

Hastings District Councillor Wayne Bradshaw said Hastings had a major opportunity to revitalise the city centre and the council should look at a wider scenario.

The CBD had challenges, exacerbated by seismic requirements, "and you can't keep pouring money where there is no outcome".

"Most things have a cost benefit. We can't keep tapping into the ratepayers, they are getting older and incomes aren't going up," he said.

The council's role was to "get the balance right" between community and business outcomes, providing an attractive environment for people to shop and invest. "At the moment people are saying they would rather invest in Havelock."

Hastings was an opportunity going begging "for years" but private capital was needed.

Selling buildings was an option, or demolition to provide more green spaces.

"We need to do something different."