Shift needed for Latter Day Saints worshippers

Earthquake strengthening work at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) chapel in Masterton has put worshippers on the road for Sunday services.

Lei Chen, LDS Pacific area facilities manager, said the Masterton congregation, which comprises about 100 people, had last Sunday taken their first 40-minute road-trip to the LDS church on Fitzherbert St in Featherston.

Mr Chen said the strengthening work would take from five to seven months to complete and Masterton church members would be travelling each Sunday to Featherston for their weekly service.

He said the southern Wairarapa church, which has a congregation of about 50 people, was large enough to cater for the combined service during the upgrade work in Masterton.

"It's a little smaller than Masterton but it's large enough for shared use," Mr Chen said.

David Clarke, LDS Pacific area projects manager, said high walls at the Masterton chapel were at the centre of the upgrade project that would take the building beyond district authority compliance requirements.

Mr Clarke said the chapel was built in 1962 with members of the then congregation helping with construction, as was the tradition at the time, and additions were made to the building in the 1980s.

"It's always been in the pipeline to seismically upgrade the meeting house. We've done that throughout New Zealand and we've been able to attend to most of our higher priority meeting houses."

Mr Clarke said the Masterton chapel had been identified as a priority, especially given its location in the Greater Wellington region and Wairarapa, which are earthquake prone.

Mr Clarke said the church organisation had been scrutinising its buildings, chapels and churches throughout New Zealand and assessing recompliance needs according to the age and scale of the structures.

The church organisation had not been ordered to upgrade the Masterton chapel, Mr Clarke said, but rather the church were "choosing to do this".

"We've planned this over a number of years just to make sure our facilities are safe moving into the future."

Mr Clarke said the Featherston chapel had been built "quite a bit later" than its counterpart in Masterton and had been earthquake-strengthened in the late 1990s.

"We want to ensure our buildings are safe enough for most conditions because, as with Christchurch, you just don't know what level of intensity an earthquake could have," he said.

"We just want to make sure the saints that attend there remain safe in all our buildings."