Reading Cinema owners refused to provide assessment for significantly damaged Wellington building

The Reading Cinema building on Courtenay Place has been closed since 2019 due to an earthquake risk. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Reading Cinema owners refused to provide an engineering assessment for its significantly damaged building, the Herald can reveal.

The owners’ refusal left the regulatory arm of Wellington City Council unable to technically determine whether it was earthquake-prone.

There is no suggestion Reading International has done anything wrong - they are entitled to take this position under the Building Act, although in doing so the building is then deemed to be earthquake-prone by default.

However, the owners’ stance has shocked some councillors, with one concerned the council could end up with a “zombie building” if a $32 million plan to save the cinema complex folds.

The Courtenay Place building has been closed since 2019 after an earthquake risk was discovered and has become an eyesore in the heart of the city.

The council is now ploughing ahead with a controversial deal to buy the land underneath the building and lease it back to Reading International, freeing up capital to redevelop the site and hopefully get it back open by 2027.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) earthquake-prone buildings register said the council has not determined the building’s seismic status because the owner has not provided an engineering assessment.

This means there is also no National Building Standard rating publicly available either.

Regardless, the council is proceeding as if the building is earthquake-prone and has imposed a strengthening deadline of March 2035, MBIE’s register said.

Wellington City Council city development manager Phil Becker said the council, as the regulator, first became aware through media reports that Reading had concerns about the building.

Based on these reports, the council identified the building as potentially earthquake-prone and wrote to the owners in February 2020 requesting an engineering assessment.

The owners told the council the following month they did not intend to provide an engineering assessment at that time.

Councillor Iona Pannett said she was unimpressed. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Councillor Iona Pannett, who led a recent failed notice of motion to revoke decisions the council had made on the cinema, was unimpressed with the cinema owners’ decision.

It was disappointing that Reading International would not make this information public given the company has sought financial assistance from the city, she said.

Councillor Nicola Young, who seconded Pannett’s notice of motion, said ratepayers deserved full transparency.

“I am shocked that the council is proposing to lend millions to a foreign company that is being so secretive about the condition of the building on the land council is proposing to buy.”

Young said councillors have been told that if Reading defaulted on the deal, after the full $32m had been paid, the council would have the right to seize the building.

“Wellington City Council ratepayers could end up with a zombie building that would need major remediation or demolition.”

Reading International did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment about why an assessment was not provided.

Becker said the council could require engineering assessments to be provided at the owner’s cost if the earthquake-prone status of a building was disputed.

However, in this case, that status is not disputed and the building is currently closed anyway.

“We are aware that building owners may get an engineering assessment of their own accord, and which an insurer may also require,” Becker said.

“There is no obligation under the Building Act for owners to share an assessment with the council, which if they did, the assessment would be a public document.”

The council has now received information about the earthquake-prone status of the Reading building through the due diligence process for the $32m deal to buy the land underneath it, Becker said.

But unlike if the assessment was provided to the council as a regulator by way of the Building Act, this information is considered confidential rather than a public document.

The council and Reading have recently agreed to make some information about the deal public. This was after it had been discussed behind closed doors for months - fuelling public suspicion and aggravation.

This has revealed limited information about the state of the building - that Reading closed it in 2019 “citing prioritising safety of visitors after receiving engineering assessment that identified significant structural risk in the event of an earthquake”.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.