National War Memorial closed after being found to be earthquake prone

The section of the tower that houses the bells is only at 15 per cent of code. File photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington's National War Memorial has been shut after a report revealed the part of the building holding the tower's bells is earthquake prone.

The memorial was previously closed for earthquake strengthening and reopened in 2018, but is now being closed indefinitely.

In the earlier closure, it was found the bell frame had corroded and needed refurbishing.

"While we had engineers and steel workers on site we took the opportunity to add to the existing seismic bracing. The engineers suggested a detailed seismic assessment to include the whole tower and the bell frames," said Ministry for Culture and Heritage's Te Pae Mahara manager, Brodie Stubbs.

"The ministry has now received a detailed seismic assessment report which has confirmed that the building is earthquake prone. We have decided to temporarily close the building while we work through any implications of this report.

"The safety of our staff and the public is of paramount importance."

Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and the Pukeahu education centre remain open.

The decision to temporarily close the memorial came into effect last Thursday.

The National War Memorial comprises the Carillon and the Hall of Memories.

While the Hall of Memories is already strengthened to 100 per cent of earthquake code, the Carillon tower is earthquake prone and it is not possible to enter the Hall of Memories without passing through the ground floor of the Carillon tower.

"We were already prepared to take any action we felt necessary as a result of the findings of the report," Stubbs said.

"Ideally we would want to strengthen the tower to that of a new building. In this case we have decided to temporarily close the building, while we work through this report and make sure we understand any implications, in particular whether the building, or parts of the building, could be a hazard in the event of an earthquake.

"We are working through the report as quickly as possible but there is no set timeframe for when the Carillon will reopen."

The report showed the affected section of the building was only at 15 per cent of the New Zealand building standard.

Now they would be looking at whether there was a way to manage public access and staff occupation of the building in a safe way.

"We don't want to keep it closed for any longer than we have to, it's an important place for New Zealanders."