Frestra Clubrooms gets final orders

Gavin Durbin, (left) John Kininmonth and Ian Gorman are sad to see the Frestra Club close its doors. Photo / Ben Fraser

It's been the birthplace of some of forestry's big ideas, seen birthdays and funerals and been the place friendships have been made.

Now after more than four decades the place where some of the brightest forestry and scientific minds met for a get together, after-work-drinks and to build friendships is set to be torn down.

The Frestra Clubrooms on the Scion Campus will be pulled down this month after Scion deemed the building unsafe, in what members are calling the end of an era.

Club member Ian Gorman said club members were told last week to meet and remove any memorabilia they wanted and the locks were changed.

Mr Gorman understood the reason behind it was a switchboard which was a fire risk. The club members had offered to replace the switchboard at their own cost, but hadn't had any luck in keeping the building open.

"Generally people pop in after work, have a yak and exchange of ideas. It's held birthday parties and funerals."

Past-president of the club, John Kininmonth, said the club had been around for about 33 years as a place for support and camaraderie.

"It was really set up to provide a social forum for forestry and related industries."

The name Frestra came from the telegraphic address of the Forestry Research Institute and training centre at the time the club started, Dr Kininmonth said.

After Dr Kininmonth retired in 1991, he would still head down to the club on a Friday night to enjoy a couple of drinks and the social aspects.

"It was about the camaraderie and helping to provide a link right across the forestry sector."

Dr Kininmonth said it was a sad time, and he did not realise how much he would miss the building until they had word it would be pulled down.

Scion chief financial officer Rob Trass said the club had been meeting in a building which had been identified as unsafe for continued occupancy and not fit for purpose.

Mr Trass said significant parts of the building were derelict and it would be dismantled this month by a local building recycling firm. "As a good and reasonable employer and considering the use of public money, Scion does not regard it appropriate to support a licensed premises on the Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park."