Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre could be demolished: councillor

Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre has been rated at just 20 per cent of the New Building Standard. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A Wellington City councillor says the council “might just have to demolish” the Michael Fowler Centre after it was deemed earthquake-prone earlier this year.

Yesterday councillors reluctantly made the decision to fund the Town Hall’s eye-watering budget blowout. The total bill for the strengthening and refurbishment project could now cost up to $329 million.

It comes as the neighbouring Michael Fowler Centre and the Opera House were issued with earthquake-prone building notices in August.

Councillor Tony Randle told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking they might just have to demolish Michael Fowler Centre.

“Because we can’t go through another project like this. I think it’s a terrific facility but really the lesson learned is we’ve got to look really closely at these buildings built on our land before we decide what we’re going to do.

“This is a warning, the Town Hall, for councils who do high-risk projects. This is what high risk looks like.”

The Michael Fowler Centre is home to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, hosts 150 performances each year, and can accommodate 2000 people.

It has been rated as being 20 per cent of the New Building Standard. Anything less than 34 per cent is considered earthquake-prone.

No decisions have been made on the fate of the building and further engineering assessments are ongoing.

Unlike the Town Hall, the Michael Fowler Centre is not listed with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Wellington's Te Ngākau Civic Square. Photo / Mark Mitchell

However, the building is a part of the Civic Square Heritage Area which is on the council’s list as having significant value.

This means resource consent is required for demolition.

But the city is in the middle of updating its district plan, including a proposal to remove this area and create a new set of rules, council spokesman Richard MacLean said.

“These new provisions align with the new City Centre Zone to enable redevelopment to occur that enables a vibrant, safe and inclusive environment.”

If recommended by commissioners and adopted by the council in March next year, the Michael Fowler Centre would no longer be protected by heritage provisions.

In the meantime, these heritage provisions haven’t stopped the council from pursuing the demolition of the Civic Administration Building and the Municipal Office Building which are also in the square and are earthquake risks.

Wellington architect Roger Walker told Newstalk ZB’s Nick Mills there is an overreaction to earthquakes in the city.

“We had to fight hard to save the library which was going to be demolished,” Walker said.

“There’s a heritage building on Ghuznee Street which was recently the subject of a fire. There’s nothing wrong with the facade - it’s brick, it wasn’t affected by the fire but the council’s mentality is to pull it down.”

The council issued the Toomath’s Building with a dangerous building notice in the wake of the fire, requiring urgent works to demolish it.

Walker gave the anecdote of arranging to meet a structural engineer in town to discuss a project. Walker suggested they meet somewhere on Cuba St but the engineer wasn’t keen - citing the risk of all the earthquake-prone buildings there.

Walker pointed out to the engineer he’d be more likely to die driving to a restaurant than eating at one.

A similar comparison was made when Wellington City Council was determining whether to allow the Michael Fowler Centre to be occupied while a plan was made for the building’s future.

A seismic risk report by business continuity and emergency management experts at Kestrel Group was released to the Herald under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

In the report, Kestrel said the probability that an earthquake big enough to cause parts of the building to fail in the next five years was low - just 0.5 per cent. The chances of this happening while a large audience was present in the building are even lower.

Even if one did occur, it’s not a given that the building would fail due to the variable nature of earthquakes.

This was illustrated following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, when none of the 700 earthquake-prone buildings in Wellington at that time sustained notable structural damage.

Meanwhile, relatively new buildings like Statistics House partially collapsed.

The risk of people dying in an earthquake while attending a major performance at the Michael Fowler Centre in the next five years is less than one in 33,000. This compares with the one in 12,500 annual fatality risk for driving on New Zealand’s roads.

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.