An Art Deco Society chief is shocked at an Environment Court ruling over remnants of the industrial origins of Wynyard Quarter, which she says can now be demolished without notice.
Dorothy McHattie, the society's lead person in the court case, said five significant industrial buildings could be removed without consent.
"It's a tragedy. Here people are finally going to Wynyard Quarter now and enjoying this area with its links to the city's history. Yet these buildings are a tiny part of our heritage and link with the past."
The oldest of the buildings is the 1920s Smart Marine, and the others were built as the harbour was reclaimed.
Viaduct Harbour Holdings owns the land under the buildings but Viaduct Harbour Management and Tramco Holdings also opposed the appeal brought by the society in the case heard in September by Judge Laurie Newhook with commissioners Ross Dunlop and David Kernohan.
