Dmytro Dizhur holds Python fixings, used to join timber to bricks and concrete. Photo / Bevan Conley
The distinctive Johnstone & Co Ltd building next to the Whanganui City Bridge is being strengthened and upgraded for a restuarant, office space and apartments.
The four storey building at 49 Taupo Quay has been solely owned by Dr Dmytro Dizhur since 2018. He's hoping its strengthening and refurbishing will cost less than $1 million, and he has Heritage Equip funding.
When it's finished he intends to light it up from the outside, to show off its features.
"It's a labour of love," he said.
In the meantime, Graeme Townsend will continue to operate the Gracias restaurant on the ground floor, and extend it to a cafe on the river side.
On the floor above will be a large open plan office. The next floor will house two spacious apartments, and the top will be one large penthouse apartment, with a dining area that looks toward the river mouth through a space once used to haul in wool bales.
The building has less than 34 per cent earthquake strength under current building standards. Dizhur aims to get it to 70 per cent - and that will be about 40 per cent of the total work needed.
He had the exterior of the building painted in March 2019. Since mid-2021 refurbishing and strengthening work has been happening inside - slowed by Covid-19 lockdowns, staff shortages and increased construction costs.
In mid-February external scaffolding went up. It's needed to replace the roof and do final earthquake strengthening over the next two to three weeks, Dizhur said.
He first spent time in Whanganui as a student, testing how brick buildings stand up to earthquakes. He finished a PhD, researched earthquake effects on Christchurch buildings and published a book, Structural Performance, in March 2021.
He's now the director of Dizhur Consulting. His team of about 10 work on heritage building projects all over New Zealand. The Python fixings he designed are used across the country and now in Australia.
But the Johnstone building is his biggest personal project. He's hoping it will show how easy and cost-effective it can be to strengthen the heritage brick buildings that he likes so much.
On the Johnstone building he's had the advice of heritage architect Brent Withers, and his partner Marta Giaretton is an architect and engineer who shares his interest.
He found a tenant for the building as soon as he was the sole owner. Gracias restaurant is staying put right through the renovations, he said.
In future it will have polished floors of original timber, and original columns and beams.
By far the most expensive and biggest earthquake strengthening measure begins on that floor. It's a wall of concrete blocks, with steel bars and concrete poured through them.
It extends up to the third floor and is back to back and fastened to an existing brick wall. It acts as a "spine" to hold the building in place, Dizhur said.
Other earthquake strengthening measures include plywood floors in the upper storeys that link with the walls, and timber tied on to the brick columns of the exterior walls. The timber is joined to the brick by Python fixings.
The long screws go through the timber and into bricks or concrete. They're invisible from the outside and any builder can drill a hole and screw them in.
Joining the building together as a unit will make it stronger.
The storeys will still be linked by the original stairs - because putting in a lift would require additional foundations in a riverbank with a high water table.
The office floor and third floor apartments will keep their heritage windows, with more added. Walls will be exposed heritage brick and there will be lots of power points and digital connections.
The penthouse apartment has a deck overlooking the river. It will be kept as a tall open space, reroofed, with new windows added.
The Johnstone & Co Ltd building has Class B heritage status in the Whanganui District Plan. It was built in 1914 for a general merchant, shipping and insurance company.