Renovations at the Sound Shell will spruce up the Napier icon just in time for summer. Photo / Warren Buckland
Renovations at the Sound Shell will spruce up the Napier icon just in time for summer. Photo / Warren Buckland
Workers on the renovation of Napier’s Sound Shell have found hand-forged steel nails thought to be 80 to 100 years old while stripping its pergolas on the street side of the complex.
One of Napier’s premier spots for protests, family-friendly gatherings, celebrations and even casual strolls, the city icon is getting what might be its first full facelift in time for summer.
Sean Harkness of Direct Earth Limited, a company that contracts building and infrastructure projects for Napier City Council and Hastings District Council, is the site foreman for the current Sound Shell renovations, which began early in August.
He said that while some repair work had been done over the years, the Sound Shell had never had work completed on it to this extent, as far as he knew.
“When I was stripping the pergolas I was finding hand-forged steel nails that would be 100 or 80 years old,” he said.
“Through the demolition, you kind of see, by pulling apart, things how old [things are]. The nails are still strong as hell. They had surface rust on them, but you could see that they were not something you would put on the shelf.”
He said they had about 10 days before the current scaffolded section around the pergola would be finished and work would begin on the entire shell and stage.
Some of the old rusted nailed uncovered by contractors working on the Sound Shell's pergolas, though to potentially be 80 to 100 years old. Photo / Sean Harkness
“We are going to scaffold the whole stage and repaint the inside of the shell, outside, and then build a brand new stage as well,” Harkness said.
He said that section would take about four weeks to finish so would be ready by the end of October in time for the first cruise ship to arrive.
The shell’s colour scheme will be retained.
Toa Samoa fans gathered at the Sound Shell during the Rugby League World Cup last year. Photo / Paul Taylor
Harkness said they had demolished all the Sound Shell’s old white pergolas, reinstated new timber and new fixings, did rectification work on all the rendered pillars and walls and did a full repaint.
“Pretty much all the remedial work, anything that needed to be new was made new and anything that needed to be fixed, re-rendered and painted was,” he said.
“[Napier City Council] is definitely spending some good money to make all of this nice, new and bright.”
An NCC spokeswoman said the pergola was replaced like for like, based on the heritage report and historic photos.
