Council staff on move to allow earthquake strengthening of Hāwera base

South Taranaki District Council's Hāwera headquarters will be closed for earthquake strengthening. Photo / STDC

By RNZ

South Taranaki District Council staff and services are to be relocated for up to six months while its Hāwera headquarters is earthquake strengthened.

Chief executive Fiona Aitken said the building currently met the minimum earthquake standard, which is 34% of the New Building Standard (NBS) but, because it was the district’s Civil Defence emergency operations centre, it was required to meet higher structural requirements and be 80% of the NBS.

“We need to make sure that in the event of a major disaster we are able to use this building as our base of operations as well as continue to deliver our business-as-usual activities to our communities,” Aitken said.

“We have gone out to tender and anticipate that physical work will start early in the new year. This means we’ll have to relocate staff from the main administration building for approximately four to six months.”

The earthquake strengthening was estimated to cost up to $700,000 but a final figure would not be known until after the tendering process closed.

Aitken said there would be disruption for the public and up to 95 staff affected, but it was nothing the council could not accommodate.

“Since Covid we’ve learned to be very flexible with how we do things and with the pending completion of Te Ramanui o Ruapūtahanga, the district’s new library, arts and information centre, space would become free in the old LibraryPlus and i-site where most of the staff will be based.

“Some staff will also be based at the TSB Hub where all ordinary council meetings will be held.”

Work is expected to start in early 2025. Photo / STDC

Aitken said from November members of the public with council-related issues to resolve would be directed to Te Ramanui.

“The biggest challenge will be how we accommodate customer inquiries with staff based in different buildings, but we’ve got a good amount of time to plan for that before the end of the year,” she said.

- RNZ