Ronald McDonald House to be torn down

Leaky Ronald McDonald House in Wellington is being pulled down. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Wellington's Ronald McDonald House will soon be demolished due to leaky problems and families of sick children being treated in Wellington Hospital will have to move out.

The premises in Newtown suburb has long been providing a home for the families of sick children undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The news comes after the non-profit organisation spent years, and more than $700,000, trying to fix leaks that have plagued the building since it was built in 1991, The Dominion Post reported.

A report on the state of the building revealed that a toilet had come off the wall, a bed had nearly gone through the floor, and a laundry ceiling had been replaced three times.

Plans to build a new house next door, then sell the existing premises, have had to be abandoned.

It was likely that families caring for sick children would have to move to rented premises for more than a year while new premises, costing $14 million, were built.

The charity's chief executive, Lesley Walker, said they thought they had fixed the issues but had to come to the tough decision to bring the building down.

The new plans, which received resource consent last week, will bulldoze the house and build across the two sites, with parking behind the building.

- NZPA